2023-10-03 20:23:24
Huawei’s recently launched 5G Mate 60 Pro mobile phone is like a mobile phone blessed by “Voldemort”. What chip it uses: I can’t say. Whether it is a 5G mobile phone: Can’t say. We have actually tested the 5G part. You can click here to see whether the network speed is faster than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. As for the chip, we don’t have enough equipment to make irresponsible remarks, but a researcher has solved the mystery of the chip used in the Mate 60 Pro. It turns out that the Kirin 9000s chip used in Huawei Mate 60 Pro and a series of mobile phones is not the real rumored 7nm nano chip. What is the problem?
The controversy over the “Voldemort” mobile phone
When Huawei launched the 5G Mate 60 Pro at the end of August, it didn’t reveal which chip the device used. The situation is the same with the recently launched Mate 60, Mate 60 Pro+, and X5. It was not until the Mate 60 Pro phone was disassembled that it was discovered that the inside of the device is driven by Huawei’s own Kirin 9000S. This chip is produced by SMIC, China’s largest wafer factory, using the 7nm process. This discovery displeased some members of the U.S. Congress, who believed that SMIC and Huawei must have done something illegal to produce these chips.
In 2020, the U.S. Commerce Department changed an export rule to prohibit any fab using U.S. technology from shipping advanced silicon wafers to Huawei. In the same year, SMIC, China’s largest wafer factory, produced the first chip Kirin 710A for Huawei using the most advanced 14nm process at the time. This chip is mainly used in mid-range mobile phones. However, when SMIC was able to produce the 7nm Kirin 9000S chip for the Mate 60 Pro, talk of tightening sanctions on Huawei and SMIC also emerged. But now some researchers say that the Kirin 9000S chip may be produced using SMIC’s 14nm process, and uses “special technology” to enable the chip to achieve a performance level equivalent to that of 7nm chips.
The lower the chip’s process node number, the smaller its features, including the transistors used. Smaller transistors mean more can be packed into a chip. The higher the number of transistors a chip has, the higher its performance and/or energy efficiency. That’s why everyone is talking regarding the Apple A17 Pro chipset that powers the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max; these are the only phones this year powered by a 3nm SoC.
What was found?
Minatake Mitchell Kashio, CEO of research firm Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, told the Hong Kong media South China Morning Post via email that the Kirin 9000S chipset is not a true 7nm chip, but an improved version of the 14nm chip. He added that “special technology” was used to improve the performance of components to the 7nm level. In fact, the benchmark scores of the Kirin 9000S in the Mate 60 Pro still belong to the 7nm chip.
No matter which process node Kirin 9000S uses, it will be very difficult for SMIC to reach below 7nm. In 2022, SMIC unexpectedly launched a 7nm process, reportedly copied from TSMC, and used it to produce a Bitcoin mining SoC that was not smartphone quality. In addition, SMIC has DUV machines that allow it to use deep ultraviolet lithography to scribe circuits for 7nm chips on silicon wafers. In order for SMIC to go below 7nm to 5nm or below, it will need an EUV machine that uses extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to carve finer circuit patterns on silicon wafers. There is only one company in the world that produces EUV machines worth US$200 million, and that is the Dutch company AMSL. But he must abide by US restrictions and cannot sell EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography machines to Chinese companies, including Huawei and SMIC.
If SMIC does use its 14nm process to produce the Kirin 9000S, it means a few things:
– Producing this chip does not violate U.S. sanctions because SMIC was able to manufacture 14nm chips before the ban took effect.
– Huawei Mate 60 Pro may not be as efficient as people originally thought.
– SMIC is still far behind TSMC, Samsung and Intel in terms of manufacturing processes.
The United States’ export controls are designed to keep China at the 14nm process node and keep the United States ten years ahead of China. Regardless of which process node the Kirin 9000S chip is manufactured using, SMIC still faces huge challenges in reaching processes below 7nm. At present, no one is sure how SMIC produces Kirin 9000S, and neither SMIC nor Huawei has responded. They continue to regard Kirin 9000s as “Voldemort”.
Source: wccftech
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