Last year, Huawei and SMIC made considerable breakthroughs in 7nm HiSilicon chips Kirin 9000S The processor that powers the Huawei Mate 60 Pro smartphone. However, this year’s Mate 70 Pro phone and its SoC have made limited progress in Chinese semiconductor manufacturing, as the processor continues to use 7nm-level process technology Report Bloomberg Quote Technical Insights. While this may not be an issue for smartphones, slow progress in semiconductors could become an issue for Huawei’s AI processors.
Still 7nm
Huawei Mate 70 Pro is based on the HiSilicon Kirin 9020 processor manufactured by SMIC, using its second-generation 7nm-level process technology (also known as N+2). Kirin 9020 is an enhanced version of its predecessor, with a 15% larger chip size (136.6mm)2) and a revised layout designed to improve performance and power efficiency. It retains design elements such as “Hi36C0” and “GFCV110” package markings, while adding unique identifiers such as “WH231203” on the die, which may indicate that this is an improved version of the previous generation architecture rather than something entirely new.
Considering Huawei once manufactured the original HiSilicon Kirin 9000 processor on TSMC’s EUV-enabled N7+ node, the 2020 chip may still have advantages over the 2024 application processor in some areas.
TechInsights expects Huawei to use the HiSilicon Kirin 9100 processor, which is manufactured using a 5nm-level manufacturing process, in its new flagship smartphone. However, the company decided to take a conservative approach and continue using its N+2 rather than N+3 (believed to be a 6nm-level production node) or 5nm-level manufacturing technology.
There’s no question that SMIC can still produce wafers in high volumes using its second-generation 7nm-level process, and the fact that it can do so despite the extensive restrictions shows that it can do so. However, the lack of significant progress suggests that SMIC’s pace of innovation is slowing.
SMIC’s pace of innovation slows
According to reports from Bloomberg and TechInsights, there were previous rumors that Huawei is developing a 5nm processor and will release it this year. However, the company’s dependence on SMIC has hampered progress as SMIC is unable to obtain ASML’s advanced lithography tools due to export restrictions. Therefore, Bloomberg said that Huawei is unlikely to achieve 5nm production before 2026 (assuming N+3 in 2025).
By then, TSMC will be ready to adopt a second-generation 2nm-level manufacturing technology called N2P, using gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet transistors, and a new A16 production node using GAA transistors and back-side power supply networks. Essentially, this means that TSMC will be three to four generations ahead of SMIC.
The big problem with artificial intelligence
Currently, Huawei can make the Huawei Mate 70 Pro smartphone based on the Kirin 9020 processor competitive because this SoC provides good performance to the phone. However, the limitations caused by SMIC’s slow progress in process technology will play a greater role in Huawei’s Ascend 900 series AI processors.
The company’s new generation HiSilicon Ascend 910C yes Expected to rely on SMIC’s N+3 node (6nm level). The processor is expected to be available in 2025, and given the limited advantages of the 6nm node over the 7nm node, it is not expected to be much faster than the Ascend 910B, which is a A simplified version of the Ascend 910 Released in 2020 to compete with Nvidia’s A100. Therefore, by 2025, Huawei’s AI capabilities at the processor level will lag behind Nvidia by two generations, and Nvidia will increase its research and development efforts on the Blackwell series of processors next year.
Of course, Huawei can try to use the hundreds of thousands or millions of Ascend 910 series processors it will have in 2025 to build huge artificial intelligence data centers and train large language models that will be comparable to those trained in the United States , but how long can Huawei continue to be competitive?