Huawei and SMIC lag behind US chipmakers

Recent reports have cleared up rumors about Huawei’s progress in chip technology. Many thought Huawei’s new MateBook laptop used a 5nm Kirin X90 processor, suggesting the company and its partner, China’s SMIC, were close to matching U.S. chipmakers. However, it turns out the Kirin X90 is built on a 7nm process, not 5nm.

This means Huawei and SMIC are two steps behind U.S. companies, which are already using 3nm chips and planning for 2nm by next year, when Apple’s iPhone 18 is expected to launch with a 2nm chip. The confusion came from Huawei’s claim that it could make 5nm chips using older Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) machines, despite U.S. and Dutch restrictions blocking access to advanced Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) tools needed for smaller, cutting-edge chips.

SMIC tried using DUV machines in multiple passes to mimic 5nm results, but the Kirin X90 remains a 7nm chip. This gap shows Huawei and SMIC are still far from competing with U.S. leaders like Apple, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, who rely on Taiwan’s TSMC for top-tier chip production.

The U.S. has tightened export controls, and Taiwan recently added Huawei and SMIC to its trade blacklist, making it harder for them to get advanced tech. While Huawei’s CEO claims they’re finding workarounds, like cluster computing, the company’s chip progress is slower than hoped, leaving them trailing in the global tech race.