Huawei debuts world's first 5G core chip

Huawei Technologies launched the world’s first 5G base station core chip on Thursday, a key step for the telecommunications equipment maker to push 5G development.

The Tian Gang chip is the world's first core chip specifically designed for 5G base stations.

It will support simplified 5G networks and large-scale 5G network deployment all over the world. To date, the company has won 30 commercial 5G contracts and sold over 25,000 5G base stations globally, Huawei said in Beijing.

China announced the issue of temporary 5G licenses this year recently, the first time regulators have clarified a 5G development timeline in the country, the world’s biggest mobile market.

"We were the first to make breakthroughs in key technologies for large-scale 5G commercial use," said Ryan Ding, Huawei’s executive director of the board and Carrier BG CEO. "Huawei is leading the commercial rollout of 5G, and building a mature industry ecosystem.”

The Tian Gang chip features a 2.5-fold increase in capacity over previous chips, Huawei said.

Chinese mobile carriers are expected to invest 1.2 trillion yuan (US$176.5 billion) in 5G by 2025, 50 percent more than their total 4G investment, according to Nomura.

Also today, Huawei launched “the world’s most powerful 5G modem" Ba Long 5000 and the world's first data center switch with an AI brain. It will also debut a foldable 5G smartphone at an industry conference next month in Barcelona.