SMIC is China’s largest foundry and is also the third largest foundry worldwide after TSMC and Samsung Foundry. SMIC’s production of Huawei’s Kirin 9000s application processor last year using its 7nm process node allowed Huawei to sell a flagship phone with 5G support for the first time since 2020. Thanks to U.S. sanctions and the Dutch government, SMIC is not allowed to purchase a cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine which is made by only one company in the world, Dutch firm ASML.
The chipset expected to power the Mate 70 series could be the Kirin 9100 application processor. | Image credit-Huawei
SMIC’s 5nm production delivers better energy-efficiency than expected. | Image credit-Wccf tech
On Weibo, leaker Digital Chat Station said that the energy performance of SMIC’s 5nm process node is much better than expected. That news means that SMIC might continue working to manufacture 5nm chips using DUV lithography hoping to improve its yield enough to keep pricing down. Even if it can’t, the use of its N+3 technology will probably still allow Huawei to use an improved application processor for the Mate 70 series.