Cut Off From ARM, x86, What CPU Architectures Can Huawei Use?

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extremetech.com, May. 23, 2019 – 

This week, the trade war between China and the United States took a major turn. Multiple US companies, as well as ARM, have pledged to cut off Huawei's access to critical semiconductor components, including SoCs and CPUs. My colleague, Ryan Whitwam, has written more on this topic, and I'll refer you over to him for additional details.

The question we're going to examine is a bit different: Without access to ARM or x86 processors, what architectures can Huawei practically tap for future products? Today, this question is largely academic, because experts have generally assumed that any disruption to Huawei's product chains will be short-lived. This is still the most likely outcome. The US ban on ZTE products last year should have killed that company dead, but President Trump decided to reverse his own Department of Commerce on the issue. Huawei could be similarly spared as part of a broad agreement between China and the United States.

But let's assume, just for fun, that Huawei remains cut off from ARM and x86 processors, and that the firm cannot acquire SoCs from MediaTek or Samsung due to the fact that these designs are still ARM-based. What could it do instead? There are two potential avenues the company could explore: RISC-V and MIPS.

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