Huawei Technologies launched on Monday what it said was the world’s first 5G communications hardware for the automotive industry.

Huawei said that the MH5000 module is based on the Balong 5000 5G chip which it launched in January. “Based on this chip, Huawei has developed the world’s first 5G car module with high speed and high quality,” the company said.

It launched the module at the Shanghai Autoshow, which began last week and runs until Thursday.

“As an important communication product for future intelligent car transportation, this 5G car module will promote the automotive industry to move towards the 5G era,” Huawei said.

The module will aid the company's plans to start commercializing 5G network technology for the automotive sector in the second half of this year.

First-quarter revenue grows 39 percent

Huawei also on Monday announced that first-quarter revenue jumped 39 percent to 179.7 billion yuan ($26.81 billion).

The world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker also said its net profit margin was around 8 percent for the quarter, which it added was slightly higher than the same period last year. Huawei did not disclose its actual net profit.

Washington has intensified a campaign against unlisted Huawei, alleging its equipment could be used for espionage and urging U.S. allies to ban it from building next-generation 5G mobile networks.

Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations.

By the end of March, Huawei said it had signed 40 commercial 5G contracts with carriers, shipped more than 70,000 5G base stations to markets around the world and expects to have shipped 100,000 by May.

Huawei also said on Monday it had shipped 59 million smartphones in the first quarter.