China's Xiaomi has become the world's fourth smartphone maker¹ to design its own processor, revealing its "Pinecone" chip yesterday aimed at breaking its reliance on foreign providers such as Qualcomm.

中国的小米(Xiaomi)已成为全球第四家自己设计处理器的智能手机制造商。昨日，该公司推出了其松果(Pinecone)芯片，力求打破对高通(Qualcomm)等国外供应商的依赖。

The handset maker is leading a wave of Chinese tech groups that are trying to follow Apple, Samsung and Huawei by creating their own internal intellectual property, rather than relying on external sources.

这家手机制造商正引领着一波中国科技集团追赶苹果(Apple)、三星(Samsung)和华为(Huawei)的浪潮，创建自主知识产权，而不是依赖外部资源。

"The ability to create its own chip sets is the pinnacle² of achievement for any smartphone company. For Xiaomi, the move is an essential next step in our development," said Lei Jun, chief executive, at the launch.

小米首席执行官雷军在发布会上表示："芯片是手机科技的制高点，小米要成为伟大的公司，必须要掌握核心技术。"

Zhang Ziming of Analysys, a tech consultancy, said: "These Chinese firms want to break the monopoly on chip technology by foreign companies and take part more in upstream competition."

科技咨询公司易观国际(Analysys)的Zhang Ziming表示："这些中国企业想要打破外国公司对芯片技术的垄断，更多地参与到上游竞争中去。"

Like most other smartphone makers³, Xiaomi had previously⁴ relied on Qualcomm to supply chips. But the US group's global dominance has led to complaints over how it charges smartphone companies to use its designs.

像其他大多数智能手机制造商一样，小米以前一直依靠高通提供芯片。但这家美国集团的全球主导地位，使外界对其收费让智能手机公司使用其设计的方式发出抱怨。

In December, the company was fined $854m by South Korea for abusing its market position and charging excessive fees. It is now facing two lawsuits⁵ over licensing⁶ fees, one from US regulators, as well as a $1bn case involving Apple .

去年12月，韩国政府以滥用市场地位和收费过高之由对高通罚款8.54亿美元。目前，高通正面临两起因专利使用费而起的诉讼案--其中一起来自美国监管机构，而另一起跟苹果有关，涉案金额为10亿美元。

"Designing chips in-house means that Chinese companies will suffer less from supply-chain disruptions. Xiaomi has previously had to delay the launch of its flagship phone because of problems with Qualcomm's chip set," said Ding Jie, analyst⁷ at tech research group Canalys.

"自主设计芯片意味着中国企业受到供应链中断的冲击将会更小。此前，由于高通芯片组出了一些问题，小米曾不得不推迟其旗舰手机的发布，"易观国际的分析师Ding Jie表示。

Xiaomi's chip ambitions date to October 2014, when it set up a subsidiary, Beijing Pinecone Electronics.

小米开发芯片的抱负可以追溯到2014年10月，当时小米成立了一家名为"北京松果电子有限公司"(Beijing Pinecone Electronics)的子公司。

China-based companies' share of chip designs in the global market roughly doubled to 11 per cent in the four years to 2015, while US-based companies have more than 60 per cent, according to Christopher Thomas of McKinsey.

麦肯锡(McKinsey)的克里斯托弗o托马斯(Christopher Thomas)表示，在截至2015年的4年里，中国企业在全球芯片设计市场的份额达到11%，大约提高了一倍，而美国企业的市场份额超过60%。