New Kirin KC10 flagship chip appeared, Huawei planning something big?

Despite being banned by the U.S., Huawei is still testing new Kirin chipsets, as recently, a chip name Kirin KC10 has appeared online and surprised many of tech enthusiasts.

The screenshot circulating over Weibo shows Huawei Mate 50 Pro with HarmonyOS 3 software and Kirin KC10 chipset. For your information, Huawei HiSilicon has not listed this chip in its portfolio or official website.

There’s no input available about the Kirin KC10 SoC but it seems like the platform is testing with a testing version of Huawei Mate 50 Pro.

What’s happening?

Tipster ClassmateGuan confirms that this is a screenshot from the testing model and this chip won’t be mass-produced. The tipster also reminded us that Huawei won’t give up on designing new Kirin chips and continue to test them in real devices.

The fact U.S. ban prohibits the company from printing new chipsets via the likes of TSMC and Samsung but can’t rule out HiSilicon from moving on its own.

Therefore, Huawei will continue to innovate internally and will not abandon research and development of semiconductor designs. Still, Huawei may take some time to make a comeback with a flagship Kirin chipset in the future.

Why?

Despite the reason that the company can’t print new chips, Huawei doesn’t want to fall behind in the competition by researching more on semiconductors.

Kirin chips are currently distributed in two categories – flagship and high-end. These include Kirin 9000, Kirin 9000E, Kirin 990 5G, Kirin 990, Kirin 980, Kirin 970, Kirin 960, Kirin 950, Kirin 930, and Kirin 920, The Kirin 910 is the flagship series. Kirin 985, Kirin 820, Kirin 810, Kirin 710, Kirin 650, and Kirin 620 are mid-to-high-end range lineups. While the Kirin 9000 series was the last chipset produced by HiSilicon.

In 2021, Huawei’s rotating chairman Eric Xu said that the company will continue to support HiSilicon. The company also promised to increase R&D investment in its chip designing subsidiary, while also hiring new talent for future projects.