Huawei Teardown Shows Chip Breakthrough in Blow to US Sanctions
The company’s Mate 60 Pro is powered by SMIC’s 7nm chips, according to analysis that TechInsights conducted for Bloomberg News
Huawei Technologies Co. and China’s top chipmaker have built an advanced 7-nanometer processor to power its latest smartphone, a sign Beijing is making early progress in a nationwide push to circumvent US efforts to contain its ascent.
Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro is powered by a new Kirin 9000s chip that was fabricated in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., according to a teardown of the handset that TechInsights conducted for Bloomberg News. The processor is the first to utilize SMIC’s most advanced 7nm technology and suggests the Chinese government is making some headway in attempts to build a domestic chip ecosystem, according to the research firm.
Much remains unknown about SMIC and Huawei’s progress, including whether they can make chips in volume or at reasonable cost. But the Mate 60 silicon raises questions about the efficacy of a US-led global campaign to prevent China’s access to cutting-edge technology, driven by fears it could be used to boost Chinese military capabilities.
With its export controls last year, the US administration tried to draw a line at preventing China from getting access to 14nm chips, or about eight years behind the most advanced technology. The US had also blacklisted both Huawei and SMIC. Now China has demonstrated it can produce at least limited quantities of chips five years behind the cutting-edge, inching closer to its objective of self-sufficiency in the critical area of semiconductors.
“It's a pretty important statement for China,” TechInsights Vice Chair Dan Hutcheson said. “SMIC’s technology advances are on an accelerated trajectory, and appear to have addressed yield-impacting issues in their 7nm technology.”
SMIC’s Hong Kong-traded shares rose 11% on Monday after publication of the report, in their biggest jump since January 2021. In Shanghai, its stock rose 6%.
The teardown by TechInsights — which has spent decades investigating the electronic innards of hundreds of devices for some of the world's biggest tech firms — represents the most authoritative analysis of the Mate 60 Pro's components since its abrupt introduction ignited a frenzy of speculation. Huawei quietly released the phone online last week without detailing key specifications, like the processor design or the wireless connection speeds. It came during a visit to China by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, whose agency imposed many of the key export controls on China.
The phone has sparked speculation because Huawei is at the center of Washington-Beijing tensions, the target of sanctions over allegations it aids China’s military. Once the world’s biggest telecommunications provider, it’s been pulling out the stops to research alternatives to American circuitry since the Trump administration added Huawei to its Entities List in 2019.
The Mate 60 advance could reset the dynamics of the tech clash, as it suggests Huawei is able to come close to, though not quite match, the fastest mobile devices using a chip that’s designed and produced in China. Testing by Bloomberg News showed the Mate 60 Pro capable of cellular speeds on a par with 5G devices like Apple Inc.’s latest iPhones.
“It’ll be a big boost for SMIC and the whole semiconductor industry in China. Their share rally could continue because it beats market expectations,” said Steven Leung, a UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong executive director. “Most people didn't foresee that China could catch up in this area so quickly.”
The move also raises questions about SMIC’s compliance with US rules stipulating that any company intending to supply Huawei using American technology — which is present throughout SMIC’s operations — must obtain Washington’s approval.
Representatives for Huawei and SMIC did not respond to requests for comments about the phone’s specs since its release last week. Huawei has said only that the Mate 60 Pro is the most powerful Mate device yet. The Commerce Department did not respond to queries about whether SMIC’s supply of 7nm chips to Huawei violates sanctions.
Chinese chipmaking still has a performance gap, as the main processor in the Mate 60 Pro is two generations behind the latest global technology, according to the teardown by TechInsights, whose findings lent weight to unsubstantiated reports posted by amateur technicians, bloggers and influencers on Chinese social media.
Apple’s current iPhones are built at 4nm and next week it will introduce a new flagship iPhone powered by a 3nm chip.
Shenzhen-based Huawei and Shanghai-based SMIC may already be approaching the ceiling of what they can achieve without more advanced chipmaking machinery. To move beyond 7nm, iPhone supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. utilizes extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV, machines from ASML Holding NV. China is completely prohibited from importing those machines.
It is unclear how many units of the new device Huawei intends to produce. The Mate 60 Pro sold out almost immediately and appears to have been available in limited quantities. It was welcomed with an outburst of patriotic fervor across Chinese social media, and national outlets like CCTV and the Global Times lauded it as a symbol of China’s irrepressible spirit.
Huawei’s consumer business took a heavy blow after the company was cut off from chipmakers like TSMC three years ago, when its smartphones were the clear growth driver for one of China’s biggest tech manufacturers. Its consumer sales are now less than half the size they were before the sanctions took effect, and the company has shifted its focus to developing technology for enterprise, cloud and automotive applications.
Analysts at Jefferies, including Edison Lee, urged caution in interpreting what Huawei’s Mate 60 says about China’s progress in chips. They wrote that selling out of Huawei's phones in hours suggests limited inventory. They also said that Huawei may be powering some Mate 60s with chips from TSMC, which it had stockpiled before the US cut off such purchases. In a report entitled “Huawei Mate 60 Pro: More Myths Than Fact,” the Jefferies team said it thinks China can produce only a “very small” volume of 7nm chips.
Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein including Mark Li said teardowns suggest that Huawei’s chip speeds were accomplished with advanced packaging and power consumption. China may not be able to make semiconductors as economically as global players, but it’s taking steps toward building supply for its most critical sectors. “We find Huawei’s and hence China’s progress better than expected,” they wrote.
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