Huawei and SMIC breakthrough chip uses tech from US companies

Remember just how popular the Huawei Mate 60 Series became in China with its 7nm Kirin chipset? Well, it could be because Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) used American-made technology to produce these chips last year prompting the US authorities to be more strict this time around.

Huawei Mate 60 Pro’s 7nm Kirin SoC was made using US tech

According to a Bloomberg report (paywalled), SMIC used technologies from Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc (both are US companies) to build their 7nm Kirin 9000 SoC that powered Huawei products last year including the Huawei Mate 60 series. When asked how the Chinese chip manufacturer got hold of US technology during an ongoing US sanction, the answer was that SMIC obtained the machinery required for development before the sanction was announced in October 2022.

Huawei was added to trade restrictions in 2019 after then-president Donald Trump announced an executive order over sanctions violations. SMIC was added a year later because of its ties with the Chinese military-industrial complex. The US opted for a slow course of action depriving both Huawei and SMIC of access to such US technologies leading to the crash of Huawei sales in the international market although it has been faring well in its home country despite the sanctions.

Huawei is working on a more advanced chip this year based on a 5nm fabrication process. As the general rule of thumb, a chipset made of 5nm will have better performance and lower power consumption compared to last year’s 7nm process. Even though Huawei is lagging behind the 3nm chipsets that the flagship phones from other OEMs are using, it might soon catch up with the advancement in the fabrication process.

A previous teardown of Qingyun L540 notebook powered by Kirin 9006C 5nm chipset revealed Huawei is relying on TSMC. Turns out the Chinese tech giant could be using leftover stock from TSMC to power the notebook although it is very real that soon, Huawei will use 5nm chipsets fabbed by SMIC in its phones.

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