Huawei sticks to 7nm for latest processor as China's chip advancements stall

Last year, Huawei and SMIC made quite a breakthrough with the 7nm-class HiSilicon Kirin 9000S processor which powers Huawei's Mate 60 Pro smartphone. However, this year's Mate 70 Pro handset and its system-on-chip demonstrate limited progress in semiconductor manufacturing in China, as the processor continues to use a 7nm-class process technology reports Bloomberg citing TechInsights. While this may not be a problem for a smartphone, the slow semiconductor progress will likely become an issue for Huawei's AI processors.

Still 7nm

The Huawei Mate 70 Pro is based on the HiSilicon Kirin 9020 processor manufactured by SMIC using its 2nd Generation 7nm-class process technology (also known as N+2). The Kirin 9020 is an enhanced version of its predecessor, with a 15% larger die size (136.6mm²) and a modified layout, aimed at boosting performance and power efficiency. It retains design elements like the 'Hi36C0' and 'GFCV110' packaging markings while adding unique identifiers such as 'WH231203' on the die, which may suggest that this is a revamped version of the previous-generation architecture, not something brand new.

Given the fact that Huawei used to make the original HiSilicon Kirin 9000 processor on TSMC's EUV-enabled N7+ node, that 2020 chip may still have an edge over the 2024 application processor in certain areas.

TechInsights expected Huawei to use its HiSilicon Kirin 9100 processor made on its 5nm-class fabrication process for its new flagship smartphone. However, the company decided to be conservative and continues to use its N+2 instead of N+3 (which is believed to be a 6nm-class production node) or a 5nm-class manufacturing technology.

Without any doubt, the very fact that SMIC can still make chips using its 2nd Generation 7nm-class process in high volume demonstrates that it can do so despite extensive restrictions. However, the lack of significant progress indicates that the pace of SMIC's innovations is slowing down.

SMIC's pace of innovation is slowing down

Huawei had been rumored to be developing a 5nm processor for release this year, according to Bloomberg and TechInsights. However, its reliance on SMIC, which lacks access to advanced lithography tools from ASML due to export restrictions, has stalled progress. As a result, Huawei is unlikely to achieve 5nm production before 2026 (assuming that N+3 will be adopted in 2025), Bloomberg claims.

By that time, TSMC will be ready with its 2nd Generation 2nm-class fabrication technology called N2P with gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet transistors, as well as with its all-new A16 production node with GAA transistors and backside power delivery network. Essentially, this means that TSMC will be three to four generations ahead of SMIC.

Big problem for AI

For now, Huawei can make its Huawei Mate 70 Pro smartphone based on the Kirin 9020 processor competitive as the SoC delivers decent performance for a handset. However, limitations imposed by SMIC's slow progress with process technologies will play a bigger role in Huawei's Ascend 900-series processors for AI.

The company's next-generation HiSilicon Ascend 910C is projected to rely on SMIC's N+3 node (6nm-class). That processor is expected to be available in 2025 and given the limited advantages of 6nm nodes over 7nm nodes, it is not expected to be significantly faster than the Ascend 910B, which is a simplified version of the Ascend 910 released in 2020 to compete against Nvidia's A100. As a consequence, Huawei's AI capabilities on the processor level will be two generations behind those of Nvidia in 2025, which will ramp up its Blackwell-series processors next year.

Of course, Huawei could try and build enormous AI datacenters using hundreds of thousands or millions of Ascend 910-series processors that it will have in 2025 and train large language models that will be competitive against those trained in the U.S. But for how long Huawei could be competitive this way?