To keep up with demand for its consumer products, China’s Huawei spent US$21.13 billion in 2018 to buy semiconductor chips, up 45.2% compared to the previous year.
The company, which operates a telecommunications business and also offers consumer electronics, such as personal computers and smartphones, sold more than 200 million smartphones in 2018, second only to Samsung.
Last year, Huawei bypassed Dell and Lenovo to become the third-largest chip buyer. Samsung and Apple remained in the top two slots, although the growth in their spending slowed slightly.
BBK Electronics, which owns smartphone brands Oppo and Vivo, claimed the sixth spot, with a 17.5% increase in spending on chips to reach US$13.72 billion. Xiaomi ranked tenth with US$7.10 billion, up 62.8% year-on-year.
Editor: Brady Ng