Huawei Unveils Mate 90 Series Smartphone Featuring Innovative In-House Chip
In a strategic response to U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors, Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled its latest smartphone line, the Mate 90 series, today.
This new offering incorporates an in-house-designed chip, dubbed the “Tau chip,” which is structured upon what Huawei refers to as “Tau’s Law.”
According to sources such as Reuters and the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Mate 90 series boasts significant enhancements, including a remarkable 31% boost in performance over its predecessor, particularly in the Mate 90 Pro Max Premium Edition.
This cutting-edge model is powered by Huawei’s state-of-the-art system-on-chip (SoC), the Kirin 9050 Pro, which employs a novel logic-folding technology.
A report from Bernstein highlights that the Kirin 9050 Pro operates on a 7-nanometer manufacturing process, proving to outmatch the performance metrics of Apple’s 3-nanometer A17 Pro chip.
This advancement has prompted evaluations indicating that Huawei has successfully diminished its semiconductor technology gap with Apple from four years to three.
Last May, Huawei introduced Tau’s Law, asserting its potential to transcend the traditional limitations of Moore’s Law, which is centered on the geometric downsizing of transistors.
In contrast, Tau’s Law advocates for a fundamental shift, emphasizing “temporal reduction” to decrease signal propagation times.
The logic-folding technique, which lies at the heart of Tau’s Law, enables a reconfiguration of a semiconductor’s internal circuitry into a three-dimensional architecture, departing from the conventional two-dimensional design.
During a press conference, Huawei Executive Director Richard Yu remarked, “Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology and other methodologies are undeniably significant for the production of advanced semiconductors.”
He added, “However, such technologies are not available to China, which is why we are focusing on logic-folding and Tau’s Law to bridge the gap.”
Looking ahead, Huawei intends to broaden the application of semiconductors leveraging logic-folding technology across its smartphone range.
As reported by Reuters, the Mate 90 series will serve as a critical litmus test for Huawei’s ability to sustain its smartphone development amidst stringent U.S. export controls aimed at Chinese firms concerning advanced semiconductor technology.
Furthermore, the Mate XT2, launched by Huawei on September 12, is the inaugural device to feature the Kirin 9050 Pro chip. Approximately 100,000 units have already been shipped, with projections suggesting total sales could exceed one million.
On the operating system front, Huawei confirmed that its new devices run on HarmonyOS 7, a proprietary system developed exclusively by the company.
Addressing the supply chain intricacies, Executive Director Yu stated that while there remains considerable demand for advanced semiconductors, the company continues to encounter challenges in securing such supplies, remarking, “The production capacity for smartphone chips remains constrained.”
In light of escalating prices for memory semiconductors, Yu acknowledged the necessity to adjust mobile phone prices, estimating an additional cost of approximately $200 (around 270,000 won) per unit, although he emphasized that any price hikes would be implemented judiciously.
Additionally, while Huawei refrained from disclosing the manufacturer of the Kirin 9050 Pro, there is speculation that Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China’s leading contract chipmaker, could be involved in its production.
Source link: News.sbs.co.kr.
