Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday said that its nascent homegrown operating system could be available on smartphones early next year, as it pushes to build an alternative app ecosystem after the US barred it from using Google’s Android.
Beginning in December, Huawei would make available the source code for HarmonyOS to software developers who create apps for smartphones, Huawei consumer products division head Richard Yu (余承東) said.
HarmonyOS is so far used only with certain products including smart TVs, in-car entertainment systems and wearable devices, but not the company’s smartphones.
Huawei is the No. 2 smartphone producer in the world after Samsung Electronics Co, but tech market analysis firm Canalys said that Huawei surpassed the South Korean company in the virus-affected second quarter.
Huawei is facing an intense campaign by the US to isolate the firm, saying it poses a cybersecurity threat. Huawei and China’s government deny the accusation.
The US has been pushing allies to shun products made by Huawei, which is also the global market leader for 5G and other telecom-network equipment.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has essentially barred Huawei from the US market and introduced a series of steadily escalating moves to cut off its access to computer chips and other technology it needs to survive.
Huawei’s HarmonyOS announcement was made at an annual software developers’ conference that it organized at its headquarters in Shenzhen.
The move indicates that Huawei intends to push ahead with plans to create its own ecosystem, a challenge analysts say is daunting in a world dominated by Android and Apple’s iOS.
Yu said he hoped that China’s huge smartphone market, the world’s largest, could remain a safe space and a platform for drawing global users to HarmonyOS.
“We are dedicated to introducing Chinese developers’ work to global consumers, hoping to see more TikToks in the future,” Yu said in a reference to the wildly popular Chinese-owned short-form video app that is also in Trump’s crosshairs.
Overseas developers would continue to find a large market among Chinese users through HarmonyOS, Yu said.
“We would like to be the bridge in between,” he added.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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