Huawei's move comes as the US steps up restrictions on technology exports to the company.

The latest product is called MateBook X Pro, running HarmonyOS operating system and Pangu large language model (LLM) developed by Huawei.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, said the MateBook X Pro uses the Core Ultra 9 chip - the first processor manufactured by Intel using advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment.

intel core ultra.jpg
Huawei uses Intel Core Ultra 9 chip manufactured with advanced EUV

Intel is positioning its Core Ultra processors to handle AI tasks, rather than relying on accessing AI servers in the cloud. The company’s latest chipset uses cutting-edge packaging technology that links four blocks together, including the central processor and graphics processor.

Meanwhile, according to Yu, although the MateBook X Pro is designed to run on the Pangu LLM, the device is also compatible with other external models, such as iFlytek's Ernie Bot and Spark.

AI is a big topic in the PC industry, which is expected to see growth slow down in the second half of 2022. Many manufacturers, including Lenovo, Acer and Asus, are betting that AI-enabled PCs will drive the market. Intel predicts that by 2025, 100 million AI PCs will run on Core Ultra chips.

In China, Huawei is making rapid strides in the laptop market. The latest data from Canalys shows that it is the third-largest PC maker in the mainland, with a 9% market share (as of Q3/2023). Laptops are also part of Huawei's strategy to expand its HarmonyOS ecosystem.

The MateBook X Pro uses an advanced flexible OLED display, which reduces weight and provides better color contrast. OLED display technology is also becoming a major factor in high-end smartphones. Apple, for example, is likely to introduce such displays on the iPad and consider implementing them on the MacBook line.

Huawei says the MateBook X Pro can handle 4K video editing 27 percent faster than a MacBook Pro running on Apple's M3 processor. The MateBook X Pro weighs 980 grams, according to the company, which is much lighter than the 1.6-kilogram 14-inch MacBook Pro.

According to schedule, MateBook X Pro will be sold in China from April 18, with a price of up to 14,999 NDT (about 50.66 million VND).

(According to NikkeiAsia)

Huawei builds billion-dollar semiconductor 'fortress' in Shanghai Huawei Technologies is building a giant research and development (R&D) center in Shanghai to strengthen its supply chain amid Washington's tightening restrictions on technology exports.