Huawei is building a production line for advanced chips as part of a network of semiconductor facilities in Shenzhen that seeks to break China’s dependence on foreign technologies. The tech group is the key player behind three manufacturing sites in Guanlan, a district of the southern city where Huawei is based, according to multiple people familiar with the matter and visits near the locations by the Financial Times. Satellite imagery obtained by the FT shows how the Guanlan factories, built in the same distinctive style, have been rapidly developed after construction started in 2022. The facilities, details of which have not been reported previously, demonstrate Huawei’s ambitions to become a semiconductor leader, boosting China’s effort to challenge the US in developing technologies such as artificial intelligence. “Huawei has embarked on an unprecedented effort to develop every part of the AI supply chain domestically from wafer fabrication equipment to model building,” said Dylan Patel, founder of chip consultancy SemiAnalysis. “We have never seen one company attempt to do everything before.” Huawei operates one of the sites, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who said it would make its 7-nanometre smartphone and Ascend AI processors — the company’s first effort to manufacture its own high-end chips.

Full report : Huawei is building a chip production line in Shenzhen and is the key player behind three Guanlan plants, as satellite imagery shows rapid development.