Huawei launches its first laptops using its homegrown Harmony operating system.

Huawei launched two new laptop models on Monday in Beijing, the first of which was sold with its own Harmony operating system, in a bid to take on established Western Big Tech rivals, even as the United States seeks to restrict its access to vital chips.

Despite becoming the world's leading producer of tech hardware, China's computer operating system development has been behind Microsoft (MSFT.O), Apple (AAPL.O), and Apple (AAPL.O), who have been monopolizing the global market for decades with their Windows and macOS.

The new MateBook Fold and MateBook Pro both run on HarmonyOS 5, the latest version of an operating system developed by Huawei Technologies in 2015 and introduced five years later on its Mate series smartphones.

The development of laptop prototypes began in 2021.

Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's consumer business group, said during a livestreamed launch event that the Harmony laptop offers the world a new choice. We continued to do the difficult tasks, but they were the right ones.

The MateBook Fold's base model, which doesn't have a physical keyboard and has a 18-inch OLED double screen when fully extended, will cost 23,999 yuan ($3,328).

The MateBook Pro model, which uses a conventional laptop keyboard, is priced at 7,999 yuan.

Due to national security concerns, Washington began limiting Huawei's access to U.S. technology in 2019, forcing the company to create and manufacture its own chips and operating systems.

Huawei said that the HarmonyOS for computers currently offers over 150 applications, including WPS Office from Kingsoft (3888.HK), which opens a new tab, an alternative to Microsoft's Office, and photo editing app Meitu (1357.HK), which opens a new tab Xiu Xiu.

According to Huawei's latest annual report, HarmonyOS had been installed on over a billion devices, including smartphones and TVs, and over 7.2 million individual developers were developing apps for it.

The processing chip used to power the newly-launched laptops was not disclosed by Huawei. But it said that the relatively high prices of the computers were due to the cost of new manufacturing technology for the chipset.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the chip.

According to Reuters, the U.S. has revoked licenses that allowed companies like Intel (INTC.O) and Qualcomm (QCOM.O), which manufacture laptops and handsets, to ship chips used for laptops and handsets to Huawei.