The just-announced Huawei Mate 60 RS
One, it could be afraid that the U.S., embarrassed that Huawei was able to obtain these chips and produce a 5G phone, plans on squeezing Huawei more by continuing to tighten the sanctions against the firm. As part of those tighter sanctions, SMIC would be unable to continue to turn out the Kirin 9000S SoC and other “cutting-edge” 5G silicon.
The other possibility is that with demand for the Mate 60 Pro, Mate 60 Pro+, and Mate 60 RS expected to be so high, SMIC might be anticipating more orders from Huawei. And even though, as we’ve already noted, these chips are not made using the 3nm process node, Huawei will probably have to continue to use the Kirin 9000S on future flagship models including next year’s photography-focused (no pun intended) P70 series.