In a nutshell: Huawei says it has built the first desktop PC containing nothing but China-made components. While this claim does appear to be true, there are some caveats, including continued reliance on foreign technology used in the chipmaking process.
China has long been pushing to lessen its reliance on US tech. Huawei says with its Qinyun HM650 series desktop computers, the machines are 100% domestically made. They also use the company's own HarmonyOS operating system.
The PC's component list includes 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory from China's CXMT, a 256GB or 512GB SSD that's likely from YMTC, and the company's own Kirin X90 system-on-chip, used in its more recent MateBook products.
Designed by Huawei HiSilicon and manufactured by SMIC, the Armv8-based Kirin X90 features 10 custom Taishan CPU cores in a 4+4+2 configuration, supporting 20 threads through simultaneous multithreading. It also has an integrated Maleoon 916 GPU.
It's the use of this SoC that adds a caveat to the Qinyun HM650 being 100% domestically made. Before the Kirin X90's release, rumors suggested it would use SMIC's newer 5nm process. However, TechInsights confirmed that it uses the foundry's 7nm-class N+2 process, first seen in Huawei's Mate 60 Pro in 2023.
The custom Taishan cores also use technology originating from Britain's Arm design giant. Huawei's 2013 Armv8 architecture licensing agreement allows it to design its own cores, but those designs still rely on overseas intellectual property.
SMIC has relied on foreign chipmaking tools, with US Commerce Department documents detailing shipments of Applied Materials ion implantation equipment to the foundry.
Other components in the PC depend on the likes of equipment and materials from outside of China, and HarmonyOS comes with a similar caveat. Huawei develops the operating system, but its documentation confirms the use of international open-source software and tools. While the exact components in the Enterprise Edition remain unverified, the fact that HarmonyOS is developed in China doesn't necessarily mean every line of code was written in the country.
Software compatibility could also be an issue for customers. HarmonyOS can't run Windows .exe applications natively, so businesses may need alternative apps or virtual machines to use their existing software. Huawei offers guidance on third-party virtualization tools, but companies would still need to check whether their essential programs and peripherals work.
Back in August, China told some state-linked organizations to uninstall a customized edition of Windows 10 several months ahead of schedule. The country introduced government purchasing rules requiring "safe and reliable" processors and operating systems in 2023. The approved CPU list consisted entirely of Chinese products, while Intel and AMD chips, Windows, and foreign database software were being phased out.