HiSilicon gets new chairman as Huawei reorganizes its chip arm

Huawei is making a big change in the leadership of its in-house chip design arm, HiSilicon. According to a report from SCMP, Jeffery Gao, who previously led HiSilicon’s Shanghai division, has been promoted to chairman of the unit, replacing long-time leader Eric Xu.

Xu, who has been with Huawei since the early days and has guided HiSilicon since 2008, is currently serving as Huawei’s rotating chairman. Xu took the role in April and is expected to hold it until the end of September. 

And for those unaware, the rotating chairman is one of the top leaders in the company’s rotating management system, holding the position of the company’s foremost leader for a six-month term

As for Gao, he is a graduate of Southeast University in Nanjing. He joined Huawei in 2012 and worked on the company’s transmission and router products before taking over HiSilicon’s optoelectronics department in 2019. According to Chinese corporate records, Gao also now serves as HiSilicon’s legal representative, a role previously held by Xu.

Huawei hasn’t commented on the reasons for the shift. SCMP states that the change could either be due to the tradition of the company’s rotating chairman or a deeper restructuring of its semiconductor strategy. What’s clear, though, is that HiSilicon is once again in the spotlight after years of working under the cloud of US sanctions.

HiSilicon makes the Kirin processors for Huawei smartphones, as well as the Ascend chips for AI and data centers. After years of silence, Huawei openly referenced a Kirin chip (the Kirin 9020) during the launch event for its Mate XTs foldable in August.

On the AI front, its Ascend line has become a domestic alternative to Nvidia’s offerings, attracting interest from Chinese AI firms such as DeepSeek.

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