Recently, Counterpoint released the latest research report, showing that Huawei HiSilicon’s 5G smartphone chipset market share will drop sharply in 2021.

HiSilicon last year accounted for 23% of the global 5G mobile phone chip market, but this share is expected to shrink to less than 5% this year. According to the latest data released by Counterpoint, if 4G global smartphone chips are also included, HiSilicon’s total share will drop from 10% in 2020 to about 3% this year, falling out of the top five.

The decline in HiSilicon’s business last year was closely related to a series of sanctions imposed by the United States. After the "chip supply cut" wave, TSMC stopped cooperation with HiSilicon, which made it more difficult for Huawei to obtain advanced process chips.

Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun said last month that Huawei will retain its HiSilicon chip division for as long as possible.

The decline in HiSilicon’s share has benefited MediaTek a lot. Counterpoint research shows that this year MediaTek continues to lead the second Qualcomm in the Fabless ranking.

MediaTek designs chips for Chinese smartphone suppliers such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo, occupying part of the market vacancies left by Huawei. Counterpoint said that MediaTek expects to account for 37% of the global mobile phone chip market this year, ahead of Qualcomm's 31%. Last year, MediaTek replaced Qualcomm as the largest supplier in the mobile phone chip market, with a share of 32%, compared with 28% of Qualcomm.

Counterpoint Research Director Dale Gai said in a research report: “MediaTek has continued to grow since the fourth quarter of last year, and the momentum will continue throughout this year. The current market has a relatively large demand for 5G smartphones priced below US$150, which has stimulated MediaTek’s business, and the company’s share in the 4G field is also growing."

At present, Qualcomm is still in a leading position in the market share of 5G mobile phone chips, and its market share is expected to reach 30% in 2021, followed by Apple and MediaTek at 29% and 28%, respectively.