SHENZHEN, ChinaSHANGHAI, Aug 30 Reuters Chinese chip stocks rallied on Wednesday following Huawei Technologies39; HWT.UL launch of its new Mate 60 Pro phone, as investors speculated it could be using a 5G capable chip which, if true, would mark a win for China39;s local semiconductor sector.

Since 2019, Washington has restricted Huawei from buying advanced chips and software from U.S. companies, which has decimated its consumer electronics business and left it only able to launch limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips.

But research firms told Reuters last month that Huawei was plotting a return to the 5G smartphone industry by procuring chips domestically, using its own advances in semiconductor design tools along with chipmaking from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co SMIC. Huawei declined to comment at the time.

On Tuesday, the company began selling its Mate 60 Pro around midday for 6,999 yuan 960 in an unusually lowkey fashion, having given no advance notice or conducted advertising. Staff at Huawei and sales personnel at stores in Beijing and Shenzhen also told Reuters they were caught offguard.

The specifications provided for the Mate 60 advertised its ability to make satellite calls, but provided no information on the power of the chipset inside.

Still, online users who managed to purchase the phone began posting videos of themselves conducting tests that they said showed it could matched the network speeds of 5G chipset phones as well as…