Huawei and the 7nm Kirin 9000s: Overcoming Physical Limits or Facing U.S. Chip Embargo?

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Ngày cập nhật gần nhất: 15/4/2026

Last week, amidst the unveiling of new products and cars at IFA and IAA, Huawei's Mate 60 phone became a tech community sensation, housing the Kirin 9000s chip as its processing heart.

Huawei claims that the Kirin 9000s is a product of SMIC, manufactured using the 7nm process. That single number, 7nm, leads us to various predictions and analyses. Does SMIC possess the most advanced EUV lithography semiconductor fabrication technology today? Are the U.S. sanctions, relying on Japan and the Netherlands to restrict the export of semiconductor technology and machinery to China, ineffective? Or perhaps, have Huawei and SMIC overcome both the physical limitations of older-generation DUV lithography to produce 7nm chips for phones?

Honestly, what's right and what's wrong, up until now, remains uncertain. Even the specifications and benchmark scores of Kirin 9000s vary on every website, each reviewer, and even different benchmark software.

Firstly, it's essential to acknowledge a rarely mentioned fact. No one truly knows how good and robust Kirin 9000s is. Benchmark scores are just a measure for comparing chips based on fixed tests. However, real-world usage, battery consumption, and heat generation are rarely accurately reflected by benchmark scores.

Secondly, before the U.S. took steps towards sanctions, starting from President Trump's era, restricting American corporations from collaborating and exchanging semiconductor technology, solutions, devices, and patents with Huawei, Huawei's HiSilicon chip development sector was one of the most formidable names in the tech market. Their modem and processing chips were not just ordinary; at times, they even outperformed Qualcomm's chip quality.

So, HiSilicon designing a chip like Kirin 9000s is not surprising. What's surprising here is how they managed to secure the manufacturing for Kirin 9000s for both HiSilicon and Huawei.

A well-known fact is that in recent years, Huawei invested heavily in their semiconductor manufacturing fabs. It's entirely plausible that Huawei dedicated considerable manpower and resources to collaborate with SMIC engineers in researching China's 7nm process.

More crucial than producing a 7nm chip is whether it's profitable and what percentage of chips meet the standard on each silicon wafer. Apart from Huawei, no one really knows these details.

The likelihood of owning the latest ASML EUV lithography machine is relatively low for SMIC. They only possess older-generation DUV (Deep Ultra Violet) equipment. It's entirely possible that SMIC has reached the limits of DUV lithography with the 7nm process, unable to shrink the size and spacing between transistors on the silicon die any further.

Let's be fair to the Chinese here. If Kirin 9000s is indeed produced using the 7nm process, it's undoubtedly an achievement for both Huawei and SMIC. However, the introduction of a 7nm chip from China, considering the recent political and economic tensions between the U.S. and China, may not change much.

So, there's a faction online and some news outlets discussing Kirin 9000s with the intent to instill fear, subtly suggesting that even U.S. sanctions won't hinder the semiconductor industry's growth in China. Interestingly, the 'miraculous' story of Huawei and SMIC creating a chip named 'Kirin' seems quite coincidental.

So, the global online community divides into three camps. One sees this as China's achievement despite challenges. The second hopes the U.S. will impose even stricter sanctions on China's semiconductor industry. The third views this as evidence of the failure of the sanctions that President Biden's administration is implementing. A tiny processing chip in a high-end phone that not everyone needs has sparked numerous debates on the internet.

Which camp predicts and reasons correctly, no one knows. But one thing is certain – the quietest right now are Huawei and SMIC. Both Chinese tech giants perhaps fear the U.S. government applying new sanctions after introducing the 7nm chip.

What comes after Kirin 9000s, will China be able to create chips that compete with the market's most powerful products like AMD EPYC 9654, Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H, or Nvidia Hopper H200? Perhaps not, as the physical limits of DUV fabrication technology are challenging to overcome.

Without the Dutch ASML EUV lithography machine, Kirin 9000s can still compete with some Android flagship models on the market equipped with Qualcomm chips. However, in two, three, or five years, the gap between Huawei and Western conglomerates will widen. Not to mention the race to integrate AI processors for phones, to perform tasks that older processors can't handle.

Kirin 9000s, or the 7nm process that Huawei collaborates on with SMIC, is ultimately a story where China tries to navigate through U.S. sanctions. Making a 7nm chip for a phone is one thing; creating a 7nm chip suitable for data center equipment is another story. In other words, despite the introduction of Kirin 9000s, the sanctions from President Biden's administration continue to have the impact the U.S. desires.

According to Techspot

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