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SMIC N+3 Confirmed: Kirin 9030 Analysis Reveals How Close SMIC Is to 5nm

Fred Chen

Moderator
TechInsights has completed an exploratory teardown and process analysis of the Huawei Kirin 9030 application processor used in the new Mate 80 Pro Max. Our structural and dimensional analysis confirms that the chip is manufactured using SMIC’s N+3 process, a scaled evolution of its 7nm-class technology, and a key indicator of how close SMIC is to achieving a true 5nm-equivalent node without EUV lithography.

 
While SMIC’s N+3 process shows meaningful density improvements, our comparative measurements confirm it remains significantly less scaled than leading commercial 5nm nodes offered by TSMC and Samsung. Full competitive metrics—including gate density comparisons
 
While SMIC’s N+3 process shows meaningful density improvements, our comparative measurements confirm it remains significantly less scaled than leading commercial 5nm nodes offered by TSMC and Samsung. Full competitive metrics—including gate density comparisons
I think this characterization by TechInsights is off. The author provided me some key details. I posted only a rough version on X:

https://x.com/DrFrederickChen/status/1999262408448299219?t=XaSHWzWNDN-GFYnGTJHgtA&s=19

Maybe a few % is already significant in this context?

They had to go beyond the double patterning of N+2. The metal pitches are close to TSMC N5.
 
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