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A posting on Huawei's website claims the Qingyun L540 laptop is "equipped with the Kirin 9006C chip, utilizing a 5nm process technology, eight cores, with a maximum clock speed of up to 3.13 GHz, offering higher performance, lower power consumption, and faster processing speeds."
There are many similarities between the Kirin 9000 and the Kirin 9006C, which some might argue indicates Huawei is leveraging stock it obtained three years ago for its current PCs. While this could be true, keeping a massive quantity of premium processors (which were expensive to make on TSMC's then leading-edge node) for three years doesn't make a lot of sense, especially bearing in mind that the original Kirin 9000 featured a built-in 5G modem (something the Kirin 9006C presumably lacks) and could be used for a premium smartphone rather than for an inexpensive laptop. As such, it is possible that the company has turned to SMIC to create the processors.
Going from a 7"nm" node to a 5"nm" node in a single year after burning every scaling booster just to get to a 7"nm" class node? Color me skeptical that SMIC is somehow gone from no experience with SAQP, to mastery, process already ramped, and shipping to Huawei in under a year... I wasn't a SMIC 7nm doubter. What they did was plausible, and it was so many years after TSMC that it was believable. But this? No I'm calling BS.
Going from a 7"nm" node to a 5"nm" node in a single year after burning every scaling booster just to get to a 7"nm" class node? Color me skeptical that SMIC is somehow gone from no experience with SAQP, to mastery, process already ramped, and shipping to Huawei in under a year... I wasn't a SMIC 7nm doubter. What they did was plausible, and it was so many years after TSMC that it was believable. But this? No I'm calling BS.
It looks like SMIC is making processes specific to Huawei so this is not really comparable to a HVM process from TSMC. That gives SMIC a lot more flexibility with patterning and other design and manufacture related issues. Yield is also an factor. If you only expect 25% yield that gives you even more room for optimization.
I have the same issue with other foundries "competing" with TSMC. IDM foundries can make claims using internal products and chiplets that just don't measure up to TSMC's standard of HVM. TSMC starts HVM with a very complex SoC (Apple). Comparing that to a chiplet just does not measure up. Samsung is notorious for bad yield yet they do straight up comparisons with TSMC claiming HVM with half of the yield TSMC requires. IBM is always "first" to new process technologies but they never hit HVM so it is more of an experiment, which is fine, but not in the same class as what TSMC does.
Now that semiconductors are a geopolitical lever this type of media nonsense will continue. If it keeps the semiconductor industry on the front page I am good with it. It makes semiconductor insider sites like SemiWiki even more relevant, right?
Maybe publish something in style of open letter "everything you know from popular media about the semiconductor industry is wrong" on the front page to hit at popular misconceptions people are getting on the wave of popular interest?
The Kirin 9006C apparently showed up in a 2021 Qingyun L420 laptop: https://www.laptop6.com/laptops/huawei/qingyun-l420-laptop-10732, meaning it is not made on a followup process to SMIC 7nm (which appeared in 2022). Surprised it didn't make the headlines though. This was after 2020, when TSMC 5nm Kirin chips already ran out. 5LPP?
(Bloomberg) -- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the US will take the “strongest possible” action to protect its national security when asked how the Commerce Department will respond to a recent chipmaking breakthrough in China.Most Read from BloombergJPMorgan Is in a Fight Over Its...
The Kirin 9006C apparently showed up in a 2021 Qingyun L420 laptop: https://www.laptop6.com/laptops/huawei/qingyun-l420-laptop-10732, meaning it is not made on a followup process to SMIC 7nm (which appeared in 2022). Surprised it didn't make the headlines though. This was after 2020, when TSMC 5nm Kirin chips already ran out. 5LPP?
Could there be a "straw" buyer of these chips acting for Huawei? A few thousand wafers on 5nm could be bought by any "stealth startup" from Samsung or TSMC.
Could there be a "straw" buyer of these chips acting for Huawei? A few thousand wafers on 5nm could be bought by any "stealth startup" from Samsung or TSMC.
If there is any US tech involved taking it over 25% of the final product then that person/company is playing a dangerous game in the current climate.
Was on a call with US Govt officials last week and they went through the latest rules for export/re-export of Semiconductor products.
The proof is in the pudding but they sounded like they mean business!!
Bitcoin mining chips no longer sell inside China, right? Bitcoin was banned. Whatsminer/MicroBT may be Chinese but chips are not being used by proscribed customers.
www.tomshardware.com
