There have been rumors spreading around that Huawei's Kirin chips could come back in 2023.
On the other hand, the company has denied that it will release a new Kirin mobile chipset next year in a statement on the Chinese social media site Weibo, according to an article by Phone Arena.
Huawei Under the US Chip Sanctions
In 2020, the US Commerce Department changed the trade rules for chips. This was one year later after the US put Huawei on the Entity List. With the new regulation, manufacturers that use American technology cannot ship semiconductors to Huawei.
Even the company's own Kirin chips, which were made by HiSilicon, could not be sent to them because of the new export rules.
When Huawei ran out of Kirin chips, the US gave Qualcomm permission to give the mobile company its powerful Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chips, but these were made to work with 4G signals only.
The newly released Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro use these chipsets, which means they do not have 5G connectivity.
Rumored Comeback of Kirin Chips
Back in July, there was talk about a new Kirin chip for the P60 flagship series to be revealed next year. The chip was said to be made using the 14nm process node, and SMIC, the biggest foundry in China, may produce these chips.
For whatever reason, the foundry could fill Huawei orders at 14nm or higher. As the size of the process node decreases, transistors become smaller, allowing more of them to be packed into a chip, increasing the component's power and efficiency.
The A17 Bionic SoC, developed by Apple and TSMC for next year's iPhone 15 Pro models, is expected to be manufactured on TSMC's 3nm process node.
If Huawei attempted to compete with a 14nm chip, it would be put at a disadvantage. For this reason, Huawei's denial makes sense. Until the US stops breathing down Huawei's neck, it is better off sticking with the 4G Snapdragon processors that it is already utilizing.
TSMC manufactured these Qualcomm processors on their improved 5nm process node, sometimes known as 4nm, which is the same as the A16 Bionic used on the iPhone 14 Pro models.
Constant Competitiveness
Huawei and ZTE are national security dangers, says the US. Some Huawei executives believed the prohibitions would be lifted under Biden. His second year in office begins in January, and nothing has changed so far, so no relief is in sight.
Huawei has established a functional operating system (Harmony 3.0 is pre-installed on the Mate 50 series) and a prevalent ecosystem, despite falling behind Apple and Samsung.
So although its Kirin chips will not power its 2023 P60 series flagship line, the smartphone maker will continue to explore workarounds to keep making high-quality and intriguing phones generating demand in China.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Trisha Kae Andrada
