Huawei Kirin processors will become a thing of the past, it seems. Huawei’s CEO, Yu Chengdong, confirmed that the company will halt the production of Kirin chips after September 15.
Huawei Kirin processors to become a thing of the past, Mate 40 series to mark an end for them
In other words, the Huawei Mate 40 series may be the last to feature Kirin processors. Both the Huawei Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro, which are expected to arrive in September, are expected to ship with the upcoming Kirin 1000.
The Huawei P50 series that is coming next year may not use that chip, as Huawei probably won’t have that much in stock. Huawei was forced to this decision by the US ban.
The US basically prevented TSMC from doing business with Huawei, and it seems like Huawei doesn’t have an alternative when it comes to producing its processors. Huawei was expected to diversify chip production to SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp), but that won’t be the case, it seems.
Analysts are doubtful about SMIC’s expertise and capacity to make such processors for Huawei. It seems like those analysts were right, at least based on the latest move from Huawei.
Huawei CEO said that this is a huge loss for the company, which is quite understandable. Huawei Kirin processors were amongst the best mobile chips in the market, and it’s a real blow to see them gone.
These are bad news for market competition
This is a huge deal not only for Huawei, but for the market competition. Qualcomm has been leading the pack for quite some time now, and this will only make the company stronger. Competition is good for everyone, so… these are certainly not good news.
Do note that Huawei may have to opt for a dual-chip strategy as early as next year, due to an insufficient amount of upcoming Kirin 1000 / 1020 chips. Huawei may be forced to turn to other companies for their chips.
Now, Kirin chips are being manufactured by Hauwei’s subsidiary, HiSilicon. Considering this new turn of events, does that mean HiSilicon will be shut down? Well, anything is possible at this point, we’ll see what will happen.
It is also worth noting that SMIC already manufactured one Kirin processor, the Kirin 710A. That is a 14nm processor, though, therefore it has been manufactured using quite an old manufacturing processor.
Huawei needs top of the line technology for its new processors, which is 5nm at the moment, so it needs something above and beyond that. SMIC may not be able to provide that, at least not at the moment. Unfortunately, it seems like Huawei Kirin chips will become a thing of the past.