Huawei Technologies announced a new chip design strategy on Monday. The company aims for its high-end chips to reach transistor density equal to 1.4-nanometre processes in five years. This development is a notable step in China's efforts to build advanced computer chips. United States sanctions have made this process very difficult.
The goal of 1.4 nm chip technology is significant. It is expected to be near the most advanced in the world by the end of this decade. Taiwan's TSMC, a leading chip manufacturer, uses 2-nm technology. They plan to produce 1.4-nm chips in 2028. China faces challenges reaching this level due to restricted access to key manufacturing tools from the US.
Huawei is introducing a new principle called the Tau Scaling Law. This law suggests the industry can no longer rely only on making transistors smaller. The Tau Scaling Law focuses on reducing the time signals take to move within chips. If successful, this could improve chip performance. It offers a way to increase density despite limited access to advanced equipment. Frontier technologies are a key part of China's economic growth and global influence.
Huawei's Ascend chip series is vital for Chinese AI models. It powers advanced platforms like DeepSeek's latest flagship model. The company's Kirin chips, due out this year, will use a new architecture. This is called LogicFolding. Huawei claims it will shorten wiring inside chips. This will greatly improve performance.
Over the past six years, Huawei designed and produced 381 chips using the Tau Scaling Law. These chips serve industries like smartphones and AI computing. He Hui, director of semiconductor research at Omdia, explained the shift. "What Huawei is proposing is a shift from traditional node-driven scaling to system-level efficiency scaling," He Hui stated. "Rather than depending solely on smaller transistors, the company is focusing on shortening interconnect, lowering latency and improving data movement inside the chip, which is a credible way to extract more performance when leading-edge lithography is constrained."
Huawei faced US trade restrictions starting in 2019. These limits cut off access to many US technologies. This included chips and software. It also restricted reliance on global chip manufacturers. Huawei entered what it called an "extreme survival mode." A secret chip project led by He Tingbo was key to its survival.
The company surprised many with a comeback in 2023. Its Mate 60 series smartphones featured 5G capability. These phones used chips made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). SMIC used a 7-nm technology for these chips. SMIC shares increased by 7.6% on Monday. This followed Huawei's announcement of its LogicFolding architecture.
Analysts suggest China is still behind global leaders in advanced chip manufacturing. However, Huawei's strategy shows progress despite US restrictions. Huawei also released a long-term development plan for its AI chips in October. The Ascend series is part of this plan. Demand for Ascend chips has increased in China. This is because domestic firms seek alternatives to Nvidia. Nvidia's advanced AI processors are restricted for sale to China. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently said the company had "largely conceded" China's AI chip market to Huawei.