Huawei Launches a Desktop Built Entirely From Chinese Components
Huawei has launched its first desktop computer running HarmonyOS, the Qinyun HM650 series, and says the machine uses entirely China made components from the processor to the memory modules, which the company describes as the country's first desktop to carry a 100 per cent domestic certification.
The machines are aimed at enterprise and government buyers, and come in two versions, the HM650 for commercial customers and the HM650G for government users, both built on the Kirin X90 processor from Huawei's HiSilicon chip arm, which first appeared in the company's laptops and tablets last year. Neither machine runs Windows, and neither will take an Intel or Qualcomm part in any configuration, which is the point of the exercise.
But the certification is the claim worth reading carefully. Huawei's own website presents the designation as a national first, while the scope of what the certification covers has not been set out publicly, so the honest reading is that Huawei has met a Chinese standard for domestic content rather than that every part is made by a Chinese company.
The chip matters more than the badge. The Kirin X90 received a Level 2 national certification for security and reliability last year, which is the gate that lets a processor into government procurement, and that is the market this desktop is built for rather than the consumer shelf.
And the software is the other half of the argument. The HM650 runs HarmonyOS V1.0, an enterprise version of Huawei's own operating system, making this the first time the company has put HarmonyOS on a desktop, which completes a stack from silicon to interface that no other Chinese vendor currently offers end to end.
And Zhu Dongdong, an executive in Huawei's tablet and PC unit, said at the launch in Wuhan that the company reached a fully domestic component rate by combining in house development of core technologies, joint development for key parts and large scale production of general purpose hardware, which is a description of a supply chain rather than of a single factory.
So the significance is procurement rather than performance. Agencies and state owned enterprises have been moving toward domestic hardware for years, and a desktop that pairs a certified processor with a certified operating system gives IT departments a single vendor to buy from and a single throat to hold if something breaks.
What Huawei has not published is a full specification sheet, so comparisons with Intel or AMD machines on performance are not yet possible from company material, and the practical question of what these desktops cost per seat is unanswered. The certification itself is issued against Chinese standards, which means a buyer outside the country cannot use it as a shortcut when judging the machine against anything else.
So for the region the read is straightforward. This is a reference design for import substitution that other Chinese manufacturers can follow, and every step it takes lowers the cost of the domestic supply chain that firms elsewhere in Asia buy from.
Huawei launched the Qinyun HM650 and HM650G desktops for enterprise and government buyers
The machines use the Kirin X90 processor and run HarmonyOS V1.0
Huawei says the desktop is the first to carry a 100 per cent domestic certification
The Kirin X90 holds a Level 2 national security and reliability certification
Huawei has not published a full specification sheet or pricing
Source: South China Morning Post
