Huawei announces its first 5G chip at the MWC'18

At the MWC'18 event, Huawei unveiled the first 5G chip called Huawei Balong 5G01. The Chinese technology company claims that it is the world's first commercial chipset that is compliant with the standards locked down by industry group 3GPP.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, said the chip was just the latest example of how Huawei is aggressively pushing forward with 5G. The chipset comes in a sub-6GHz model and a mmWave model, Huawei announced.

The company claims that the chip can hit download speeds of up to 2.3 gigabits per second. There were no details about the price of the chipset.

Uniting technology, infrastructure and people. Introducing the world's first 3GPP commercial CPE, the #HUAWEI5G CPE. #NewHorizons #HUAWEIMWC18 #MWC18 pic.twitter.com/B34tNw34Oz

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 25, 2018

Huawei claims, "The chip provides an ultra-fast experience, allowing users to enjoy VR video and gaming experiences, or download a TV show within a second. The Huawei high-frequency 5G CPE is available in indoor and outdoor units."

With the launch of this chip, Huawei is giving competition to Qualcomm. Also recently Intel announced a partnership with Microsoft, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to create 5G-enabled laptops based on Intel's own modems.

5G refers to the next generation of mobile internet that could help power future driverless cars and even internet-connected infrastructure in cities.