Earlier this week, a well-known whistleblower, Digital Chat Station (DCS), hinted at the development of a new Kirin chip by Huawei. Today, DCS published a clarification on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, revealing some additional details.
The leak suggests that Huawei is likely to use a “domestically developed n+2/3 process” to produce its next Kirin chip, which is likely to be called the Kirin 9100. This corresponds to a 5nm process, and DCS explains that deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography with multiple layers will be used for production.
While Huawei will be able to achieve transistor sizes similar to 5nm with this approach, it will not be identical to the advanced EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography used by TSMC and Samsung.
In addition, since DUV lithography requires multiple exposures to achieve the desired pattern on the chip, it can lead to higher production costs and potentially lower chip yields compared to EUV, which can print more complex designs even in a single exposure.
Despite this, DCS notes that the new chip will offer “fairly obvious” improvements in energy efficiency over the previous Kirin chip.
However, it may not quite match the efficiency of Qualcomm’s latest offerings, as the source says it will be on par with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. If not, DCS says that the new Kirin chip will definitely be more efficient than the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
It is important to note that these are still leaks, and details such as the specific Kirin model number, core configuration, and target release date are still unknown.
Moreover, the leak does not specify which fab will produce the chip. Although DCS mentions that it will be produced domestically, as TSMC and Samsung are not options due to US restrictions, it is unclear which Chinese fab has the capabilities for the 5nm DUV process. SMIC is a potential candidate, but it is under scrutiny by the US government for its ability to produce advanced chips.
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