Huawei Cannot Mass Produce 7nm Advanced Phone Chips: US

The ability of Chinese smartphone maker Huawei to manufacture advanced chips amid U.S. sanctions has again come into question as conflicting claims arise. According to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, there is no evidence to indicate that Huawei can produce smartphones with advanced semiconductors at a large scale. The claims surfaced when tech research firms told that Huawei is going to return to the 5G smartphone industry by the end of this year.

Huawei To Return To 5G Smartphone Industry By End of 2023

“Discovering a Kirin chip using SMIC’s 7nm (N+2) foundry process in the new Huawei Mate 60 Pro smartphone demonstrates the technical progress China’s semiconductor industry has been able to make without EUV lithography tools,”

Moreover, Raimondo stated during a U.S. House hearing that:

“we don’t have any evidence that they can manufacture seven-nanometer at scale.”

Back in 2019, the U.S. government enrolled Huawei in an entity list that banned it from accessing high-end chipmaking tools from the U.S. due to national security concerns. The sanctions ruined the Chinese handset business. It forced the smartphone maker to diversify revenue streams into less familiar areas such as IoTs and automotive. Moreover, the future of China’s advanced chipmaking industry was further wrapped in uncertainty after Oppo disbanded its semiconductor unit. It was the time when global smartphone shipments slowed down.