The first smartphone with a 100% Chinese chip is born

Huawei recently unveiled its new flagshipthat They have just debuted in the Chinese market: it is about the Huawei Mate 70successors to last year’s controversial Mate 60. Its Kirin chip caused controversy and angered the United States for have been manufactured with prohibited technology.

In this year, China continues and pursues technological self-sufficiency at all levels: semiconductors for smartphonesand even GPUs for Artificial Intelligence. The new Mate 70 Pro+ is a blow to the table after the US vetoes and represents a great milestone for the Asian country: Huawei announces that they have achieved 100% national production.

A small big step to stop depending on the West

On its particular path towards technological independence, China has in Huawei, SMC and HiSilicon, three companies that are resistance to vetoes that the US has been introducing for a few years. With limited production of processors, the Chinese manufacturer has achieved the unthinkable, using old machinery.

Huawei Mate 70 Pro+
Huawei Mate 70 Pro+

And its new milestone is the Huawei Mate 70 Pro+ chipa terminal that is sweeping sales in China. Its Kirin 9020 succeeds the controversial Kirin 9000S, although it is not too different: it is manufactured in a 7 nanometer process, this time with a plus of raw power.

The Kirin 9020 does not appear in the technical sheet of the new Huawei smartphone: the company was jealous during the launch, and it had to reach the hands of users so that we could discover what was hidden behind this HiSilicon Kirin. However, although Huawei tried to hide it, it now boasts that they have achieved 100% national production. For the first time, a Kirin chip does not depend on foreign technology.

Huawei mobile phones 'revive' after five years in oblivion. China's support has a lot to do with it

That it was going to happen was certain, but we didn’t know when. After the launch of the Huawei Pure 70 In April of this year, we learned that the Chinese firm was very close to reaching this milestone: a few months later it is a reality. The circle closes, and represents a new point in the technological development of the Asian giant.

On the other hand, SMIC, mainly responsible for the chip and Huawei and HiSilicon partneralso benefits from the latest releases. His income increased considerably due to a boom in demand. Despite his good moment, try to deal with US vetoes which left them without cutting-edge equipment with which to improve the manufacturing process of their semiconductors.

Kirin Chips
Kirin Chips

Still far from Qualcomm or MediaTek. The new Kirin 9020 in the Huawei Mate 70 Pro+ is committed to a Big Core, three performance cores and four cores focused on energy efficiency. This architecture is not enough to catch up with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, nor with previous generations of Qualcomm chips. Of course, performance tests confirm that it surpasses the G4 tensioner of the Google Pixel 9.

Huawei is not worried about raw power. The latest Kirin will not be the most powerful, but they offer more than adequate performance: we tested it when we analyzed the Huawei Pura 70 Ultrawhich has the Kirin 9010. Be that as it may, for Huawei the important thing is to stop depending on foreign technology, and that is why they are in luck. In software, HarmonyOS Next is responsible for replacing Android, already has essential applications for Chinese users.

Cover image | Images from Huawei and Free Malaysia Today