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Huawei has launched its latest Mate 80 smartphones with a new in-house chip that shows steady, if limited, progress in China’s semiconductor industry. The Kirin 9030 processor, which powers the Mate 80 Pro Max, was produced locally and reflects incremental gains made under years of tight US technology restrictions.
The chip was made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s leading contract chipmaker. Analysts say it uses an improved version of SMIC’s existing 7-nanometre manufacturing method, rather than a leap to a more advanced generation. That detail matters because smaller manufacturing sizes usually allow faster, more efficient chips.
Huawei says the Kirin 9030 performs better than its predecessor
Research firm TechInsights examined the Kirin 9030 and found that SMIC’s updated process, known as N+3, builds on earlier work rather than breaking new ground.
The company said the changes brought better chip density but still left China behind global leaders such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung.
The findings underline how far Chinese chipmakers have pushed older tools in the absence of cutting-edge equipment.
Chinese firms cannot access the most advanced machines used elsewhere, forcing them to squeeze more out of existing technology. Huawei says the Kirin 9030 delivers a clear performance boost over the previous version used in its Mate 70 phones.
But demand for foreign chips is also shaping the local industry. As was reported by Cryptopolitan, pressure on China’s chip sector is also shaped by strong demand for foreign processors. Nvidia is weighing higher output of its H200 chip after heavy interest from Chinese companies, highlighting the gap between local products and the most powerful imports still allowed.
The chip industry closely tracks Huawei because its progress is seen as a signal of China’s wider capabilities. Earlier TechInsights reports found that previous Huawei chips were also made using 7-nanometre methods, easing speculation that the country had already mastered more advanced production. The Kirin 9030 appears to confirm that view.
One analyst quoted in the TechInsights report said the new process “remains substantially less scaled than industry 5-nanometre processes”. In plain terms, that means the chip is bigger and less efficient than those made by the world’s top manufacturers, even if it represents progress under difficult conditions.
There is also a worry over the reliability of such chips produced in huge numbers. The production methods rely on older light-based tools and complex steps to pack circuits tightly together.
However, this can slow production and increase production costs, subsequently making it difficult to compete with rivals who are overseas and using newer machines.
US trade embargo is pushing local innovation
Huawei and SMIC did not comment publicly on the report. Both companies have been on US trade blacklists for years, cutting them off from key technology and suppliers. Those measures have reshaped Huawei’s business, pushing it to design its own chips and rely more heavily on domestic partners.
Political influence also has an impact. Authorities in China in October added TechInsights to an official list of unreliable entities, subsequently stopping it from doing business in the country after a series of reports on Huawei and SMIC that got global attention.
Although the pace is still slow, the Mate 80 launch shows that China can still move forward. And, while the Kirin 9030 may not match the best chips on the global market, it signals determination to keep building at home, which is what China is pushing for.
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