[sanxiyn]

Huawei is absolutely writing their own kernel, see https://github.com/LiteOS/LiteOS.

[reaperhulk]

They may be working on other things but they also trumpet harmony as their own. Ars Technica wrote an article about how original it actually is: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/harmonyos-hands-on-h...

[sanxiyn]

I mean, "fake it till you make it" is a good strategy (although you probably shouldn't lie). It is a sound engineering decision to rewrite Android piece by piece, like replacing Linux with LiteOS.