Huawei Technologies Co.’s newest laptop. runs on a chip manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), as it became known after disassembling the device, which refutes talk of another Chinese technological breakthrough.
The Qingyun L540 laptop contains a 5nm chip made by a Taiwanese company in 2020, around the time US sanctions blocked Huawei’s access to the chipmaker, research firm TechInsights revealed to Bloomberg. This contradicts speculation that Huawei’s domestic chip manufacturing partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) could achieve a significant leap in manufacturing technology.
Last August, Huawei caused a stir in the US and China by releasing a smartphone with a 7nm processor made by Shanghai-based SMIC. An analysis by a Canadian research organization found that the Mate 60 Pro’s chip is only a few years behind the cutting-edge technology that US trade restrictions are supposed to prevent. The discovery sparked celebrations in China’s tech scene and debate in the US over the effectiveness of sanctions.
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TechInsights spotted a Kirin 9006C processor built on TSMC’s 5nm process in the laptop, which was assembled and packaged around the third quarter of 2020. Industry experts had previously speculated that SMIC had reached the milestone by developing workarounds to US sanctions, which would mark the second technological triumph for a Chinese national manufacturer in as many months.
The success embodied in the Mate 60 smartphone in 2023 cemented Huawei’s role as the flagship of China’s efforts to abandon Western technology and create domestic alternatives. Chinese consumers snapped up the smartphone in the latest quarter, helping the company regain the all-important $100 billion revenue threshold, undermining Apple Inc’s dominance. in the iPhone smartphone market.
A foray into 5nm territory would be a big leap for the Shenzhen-based conglomerate, bringing it closer to the state-of-the-art processes used, mostly centered around 3nm nodes. Before TSMC severed ties with Huawei, it supplied the Chinese firm with 5nm process chips.
It is not clear how Huawei managed to acquire the three-year-old processor, although the Chinese company has been stockpiling vital semiconductors since the US began blocking its access to components and equipment around the world. Although Huawei has been on the list of Washington companies since 2019, it was not until 2020 that TSMC stopped accepting orders from Huawei to comply with increased US trade restrictions.
Since then, Huawei has poured billions into research and stockpiling chips, and built an internal network of suppliers and manufacturing partners, in some cases with government support.
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