The mystery how SMIC was able to make the 7nm Kirin 9000s SoC remains unsolved
The Mate 60 Pro accounts for 60% of the Mate 60 series’ sales
The latest word about the Kirin 9000s comes from Dylan Patel, chief analyst at semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis. In a fresh report, Patel wrote that SMIC had good yields on its 7nm production line and that SMIC’s 7nm process node is equivalent to the N7 (7nm) node used by TSMC. Patel also wrote a comment that U.S. lawmakers and officials might find concerning. “SMIC is, at worst, only a handful of years behind TSMC, and at most, only a few years behind Intel and Samsung, despite [US government] restrictions,” the analyst said in the report.
Huawei has offered consumers in China a subscription plan that promises delivery of their new Mate 60 series phone no more than 90 days after a pre-order is submitted. Only one unit can be ordered and the phone will be shipped on a random date within the 90 days. Promised delivery dates for Huawei Mate 60 series phones range from this month to February.
SemiAnalysis analyst Patel pointed out that the gap between supply of the Mate 60 line and demand has nothing to do with the yields achieved by SMIC with its production of the Kirin 9000s chip. Instead, he says that the demand for Huawei’s first 5G phone since 2020 is the reason why the demand-supply balance is so skewed in favor of demand for the Mate 60 series. Still, demand for the Mate 60 series has not returned to pre-sanction days.
Huawei has sold 2.5 million units of the Mate 60 series according to research firm Canalys
For example, analytical firm Counterpoint Research says that within four months of its release in 2020, the Mate 40 series was rung up 2.6 million times. That was the first flagship phone sold by Huawei following its placement on the U.S. entity list blocking the manufacturer from doing business with its U.S.-based suppliers. The Mate 30 series released before the U.S. sanctions were announced sold 7.5 million units over the same time span in 2019. Counterpoint forecasts that Huawei will sell 4 million units of the Mate 60 line after four months.
