Huawei Tipped to Have 3nm-Based HiSilicon Kirin 9010 SoC in the Works

Huawei is tipped to expand its high-end HiSilicon Kirin chipsets lineup and launch Kirin 9010 as next-generation system-on-chip (SoC). The new chip is speculated to be based on an all-new architecture based on 3-nanometre (3nm) process technology. This seems to be a significant upgrade over the existing HiSilicon Kirin 9000 and Kirin 9000E SoCs that are based on the 5nm process. Competitors including Qualcomm and Samsung have also used the same MOSFET technology node on their recent flagship SoCs for mobile devices.

A tipster, with username @RODENT950, tweeted that Huawei’s next-gen chipset Kirin 9010 is based on 3nm process. There’s, however, no official confirmation to the reported details.

The details about the silicon comes at a time when Huawei is facing challenges in retaining its chipset business globally — due to US sanctions and shortage of supply. A recent report by Counterpoint showed that the Chinese company didn’t receive any growth in the last quarter and managed to retain its 12 percent share in the worldwide smartphone chipset market.

Huawei’s stagnant growth, however, helped MediaTek as the Taiwanese company even surpassed Qualcomm and attracted companies including Samsung and Xiaomi towards its affordable SoCs.

Last year, Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu indicated that the company would stop making flagship chips due to pressure over the restrictions imposed in the US. “This year may be the last generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips,” Yu had said at an industry conference in August.

Having said that, the latest rumour around the HiSilicon Kirin 9010 SoC suggests that Huawei may have one last weapon to take on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and Samsung’s Exynos chips. The move to 3nm process appears quite competitive and significant — considering the recent arrival of 5nm chips.

Huawei last year brought HiSilicon Kirin 9000 as its last flagship SoC. It debuted on the company’s Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ smartphones in October, while the Kirin 9000E featured on the Mate 40.

Gadgets 360 has reached out to Huawei for a comment on the development of Kirin 9010 SoC. This report will be updated when the company responds.

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