A Chinese employee shows 5G network on a Huawei Mate X, the first 5G foldable smartphone of Huawei, in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on April 17. Photo: IC

Huawei has not been deterred by US sanctions, as the company announced on Friday that it has shipped 100 million smartphones worldwide this year as of May 30 and unveiled the latest self-developed 7-nanometer (nm) chipset. 

Huawei saw its overall shipment worldwide surpass 100 million in the first five months of 2019, He Gang, head of smartphone business at Huawei, said at the launch of its new flagship smartphone, nova5, in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, on Friday. 

The Chinese company, which is also the world's second-largest smartphone vendor, has been facing growing pressure from the US government in recent months, especially after US authorities issued an export control that partially bans US tech companies from exporting components and technologies to Huawei. 

For example, US tech giant Google said it will comply with US regulations, which means it could revoke Huawei's Android system. 

Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, has been playing down the impact of US sanctions in recent interviews. He estimated that the company's overall revenues will decline by about $30 billion, which is not a big deal.

The company's overseas business will be mainly affected by the US export control. However, it still sees a robust growth in the Chinese market, Ren said. 

Huawei is delaying its first 5G foldable smartphone, Huawei Mate X, to September, as it has been doing extra tests with mobile carriers and developers to make sure their apps work on the device, CNBC reported. 

However, a senior executive of Huawei said the company will not postpone the launch of Mate X to September, and it is expected to release the device by the end of July or the start of August. 

The company also unveiled its latest self-developed 7-nm HiSilicon chipset - Kirin 810 - marking a new milestone in its homegrown core technologies. 

The new mid-range chip, based on the same 7-nm manufacturing node as the flagship Kirin 980, also shows that the Chinese company has a steady cooperation with major chipset manufacturer TSMC, despite continued US pressure on suppliers to sever their ties with Huawei, analysts said.

"It also shows the strength of its own chip affiliate," Wang Yanhui, head of the Mobile China Alliance, told the Global Times on Friday. 

Huawei activated its backup chipset program in mid-May amid the US clampdown as a way of showing that the company is not frightened by the US export control.

HiSilicon has already made some major breakthroughs, such as Huawei's first mobile AI computing platform Kirin 970, which has been used in its smartphone products.