HiSilicon (Shanghai HiSilicon Technologies)
HiSilicon (Shanghai HiSilicon Technologies) is Huawei's in-house semiconductor design arm, supplying chipsets for smartphones, networking gear, and AI infrastructure.
Last updated October 30, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
Shanghai HiSilicon Technologies, commonly known as HiSilicon (海思), is the semiconductor design subsidiary of Huawei Technologies. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Shanghai, it designs chips rather than manufacturing them, operating as a fabless design house that supplies Huawei's own product lines and, historically, external customers. Its portfolio spans smartphone and tablet processors (the Kirin line), baseband and connectivity modems (Balong), set-top box and smart-TV chips, networking and telecom silicon, camera and image-processing chips, and AI accelerators (the Ascend family) used in data centers and edge devices. HiSilicon's role within Huawei is strategic: it gives the parent company vertical integration in silicon, allowing Huawei to differentiate its phones and telecom equipment through custom processors and modems. The brand is best known to consumers indirectly, through the Kirin chips inside Huawei and Honor smartphones, rather than as a standalone consumer label. For enterprise and carrier customers, HiSilicon silicon underpins base stations, optical transport, routers, and surveillance cameras. Ownership is entirely within Huawei, which is privately held and employee-owned; HiSilicon is therefore a subsidiary rather than a separately listed company. Its fortunes are closely tied to Huawei's, including the export-control restrictions imposed on Huawei by the United States starting in 2019, which curtailed its access to advanced foundry processes and EDA tools. Those constraints reshaped HiSilicon's roadmap and pushed Huawei toward domestic supply chains and in-house alternatives. Today HiSilicon positions itself as a broad silicon and solutions provider, with emphasis on AI computing (Ascend), connectivity, and smart-device chips. It operates largely as a B2B and internal-supply brand, with limited direct consumer marketing, and its public profile rises and falls with Huawei's product launches.
History
HiSilicon was established in 2004 as Huawei's dedicated integrated-circuit design unit, created to reduce the parent company's dependence on third-party chip vendors and to build proprietary silicon for its telecom and handset businesses. Early work focused on chips for Huawei's networking and telecom equipment, followed by set-top box and video-processing silicon. The brand became widely known through the Kirin line of smartphone processors, which powered Huawei's flagship phones and helped establish Huawei as one of the few phone makers designing its own high-end application processors. Alongside Kirin, HiSilicon developed the Balong family of cellular modems, giving Huawei early and deep 4G and later 5G modem capability, and expanded into AI with the Ascend series of neural-network processors for data centers and edge computing. HiSilicon's growth tracked Huawei's rise to become a leading global smartphone and telecom-equipment vendor. That trajectory was disrupted in 2019 when the United States placed Huawei on its Entity List, restricting access to American technology, including chip-design software and advanced foundry services. The restrictions cut HiSilicon off from leading-edge manufacturing, forcing Huawei to redesign its supply chain, stockpile components, and invest in domestic semiconductor capabilities. In the years that followed, HiSilicon continued to design chips while Huawei worked to rebuild its silicon supply chain within China. The company's public profile remains closely tied to Huawei's product launches, and it continues to be positioned as a core part of Huawei's long-term technology self-reliance strategy.
- 2019
U.S. Entity List restrictions on Huawei curtail HiSilicon's access to advanced foundry and EDA tools.
- 2018
Ascend AI processor series is launched for data center and edge AI workloads.
- 2014
Kirin 920 and subsequent chips establish HiSilicon as a credible high-end mobile processor designer.
- 2009
HiSilicon introduces early Kirin smartphone processors for Huawei devices.
- 2004
HiSilicon is founded as Huawei's in-house IC design unit.
Products and positioning
Huawei's captive fabless semiconductor design arm, positioned as a strategic in-house silicon supplier for smart devices, connectivity, and AI computing.
Kirin smartphone and tablet processors
Balong cellular modems
Ascend AI processors
Set-top box and smart TV chips
Networking and telecom silicon
Recent events
- Unconfirmed
Shanghai HiSilicon launches five HiLaser laser products across TO and CompLas series[1]
Reported:
Shanghai HiSilicon announced the launch of five laser products under its HiLaser brand, covering two series: the HiLaser TO series of red, green and blue single-chip lasers (HiLaserRTV101A, HiLaserGTV100A, HiLaserBTV100A) and the CompLas series of multi-channel high-power lasers (HiLaserMCV100, HiLaserBCV127A), targeting laser display, home and professional lighting, stage entertainment and industrial applications, with output options ranging from 1W red to 85W blue.
- Unconfirmed
China Telecom Sichuan wins innovation award for 8K project[2]
Reported:
China Telecom Sichuan, together with Shenzhen Skyworth and Shanghai HiSilicon, won the Best Innovative Product and Solution Award for their “8K Ultra-HD Terminal and Business Innovation” project.
China Mobile and HiSilicon introduce a customized Wi-Fi 6 router[3]
Reported:
China Mobile and Shanghai HiSilicon jointly customized a Wi-Fi 6 router offering 160 MHz bandwidth and hardware-level dedicated traffic channels.
Shanghai Hais and Ailian sign 5G authorization partnership[4]
Reported:
Shanghai Hais and Ailian signed a 5G authorization cooperation agreement in Mianyang, Sichuan. The report describes it as Shanghai Hais's first partner authorization worldwide.
Sources5 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/上海海思 · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled