This Is How Huawei Shocked America With a Smartphone
17 Nov 2023 (10 months ago)
Introduction
- The Huawei smartphone’s microprocessor demonstrates China's advancement and has become a point of US-China tensions.
- The phone symbolizes China's pursuit of a self-sufficient chip industry and challenges US efforts to limit China’s access to technology.
- US officials are concerned about the transfer of advanced chip technology to Chinese military uses.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s Beijing trip
- Gina Raimondo’s trip to China aimed to ease tensions over issues including technology trade.
- The US has tried to prevent China from acquiring advanced semiconductors, citing national security and economic restrictions.
- Raimondo's visit was eclipsed by the release of the Huawei Mate 60, which sold out quickly, signaling China's defiance against US technological restrictions.
Behind the Bloomberg Mate 60 Pro teardown
- Huawei’s Mate 60 is powered by a chip designed by Huawei and manufactured by China's largest chipmaker, SMIC.
- The chip uses seven-nanometer technology, which is closer to the current state-of-the-art than the US expected, suggesting China is only a few years behind.
- US sanctions previously cut off Huawei's access to TSMC’s manufacturing, driving China to seek alternatives.
How Huawei and SMIC pulled it off
- Huawei and SMIC found ways to circumvent the lack of advanced Western chipmaking technology.
- SMIC utilized older DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography machines from ASML, instead of the more advanced EUV (extreme ultraviolet) machines forbidden by export controls, to push beyond expected technological limits.
- Questions remain on how SMIC managed to produce advanced components with these limitations.