Kirin 9000s mystery continues after researcher says it’s 14nm chip and enhanced for 7nm like performance

There may not be any mobile chipset that is more mysterious than Huawei’s Kirin 9000s and the ambiguity is surging new rumors and research. The addition to this interesting road shows that the Kirin 9000s is built with a 14nm process.

Earlier last month, a teardown from TechInsights specialist shows that the Huawei Mate 60 Pro is indeed using a new Kirin chip. It is revealed that the chip is processed with advanced 7nm chipset technology.

“The difficulty of this achievement shows the resilience of the country’s chip technological ability,” said Dan Hutcheson, vice-chairman at TechInsights. If confirmed the use of an advanced 7nm chip would be a clear violation of the US sanctions.

14nm:

In an emailed interview with SCMP, the chief executive at Tokyo-based electronics research firm Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, Minatake Mitchell Kashio, said that the Kirin 9000s CPU is made with 14nm process technology. This information is said to be based on their own Mate 60 Pro teardown.

Mr. Kashio noted that Huawei has used some special tool or technology to achieve 7nm grade processing capability in a 14nm wafer. However, this is more complicated than what we can see on the ground.

Previously, Jefferis’ Lee suggested that SMIC had no direct part in producing the new Kirin 9000s chipset. Lee said that the Kirin 9000s may have a similar structure to the SMIC chipset. However, it’s a possibility that Huawei sourced SMIC chipset technology and equipment to develop Kirin 9000s.

Another industry analyst said that SMIC lacks a large-scale production of 7nm chips due to trade sanctions. SMIC supply chain to produce new products is severely affected. Combined with Huawei’s supply chain and new efforts, Huawei could utilize SMIC tech to achieve its semiconductor goals.

With that being said, we continue to see new theories and research around Kirin 9000s and the 14nm technology process is now one of them. What do you think about this new report, let us know via our social channels.