Huawei remains severely handicapped by U.S. export controls preventing it from obtaining cutting-edge chips or from purchasing the advanced lithography technology it needs. Nonetheless, Huawei has introduced the Kirin 9030 Pro application processor (AP) to power the Huawei Mate 80 Pro Max. SMIC is building this component using its N+3 process node, which means that it delivers the performance of a 5nm chip.
SMIC will use multi-patterning to print smaller features on a silicon wafer with a DUV machine
Without the ability to purchase an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine from ASML, SMIC was forced to use DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) lithography machines and rely on a technique called multi-patterning. Instead of printing and etching the circuitry features one time on each wafer using an EUV, SMIC will have to print and etch the features on a silicon wafer as many as four times using a DUV. This could lead to alignment issues resulting in more chips getting binned as they fail quality control. As the yield drops, the price of these components soars. It also takes more time to build a chip using multi-patterning.
Geekbench results for the Kirin 9030 Pro AP and the Huawei Mate 80 Pro Max. | Image credit-Geekbench
Consider this. To print the fine lines on a silicon wafer, an EUV machine uses a single, wavelength light exposure as short as 13.5nm. The DUV machines that SMIC is allowed to use have a much longer wavelength of 193nm. This explains why the Kirin 9030 Pro and Krin 9030 will require multi-patterning to produce.
The Kirin 9030 Pro AP will feature the Maleoon 935 GPU which improves on the Maleoon 920 GPU used with last year's Kirin 9020 AP. The chipset was benchmarked as it powered the Huawei Mate 80 Pro Max with 16GB of RAM. The Geekbench results were not impressive as the single-core score came to 1131 and the multi-core score was 4277. To put this in perspective, here is how the Kirin 9030 Pro Geekbench scores compared with three rival APs:
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
320.9 percent faster in single-core (3,629 points),
245.2 percent faster in multi-core (10,488 points),
Dimensity 9500
300.1 percent faster in single-core (3,394 points).
233.2 percent faster in multi-core (9,974 points).
A19 Pro
346.6 percent faster in single-core (3,920 points).
234.1 percent faster in multi-core (10,011 points).
Digital Chat Station says to take the Kirin 9030 Pro AP Geekbench score with a grain of salt since Huawei has been known to fudge on the actual performance of its chips. Still, there is no denying that the inability of SMIC to obtain an EUV lithography machine puts Huawei in a bad spot to begin with.
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Weibo post from Digital Chat Station discusses the Geekbench results for the Kirin 9030 Pro AP. | Image credit-Weibo
We should also point out that since SMIC started making Kirin APs for Huawei starting with the Kirin 9000s used on 2023's Mate 60 Pro, the foundry has used its 7nm N+7 process node. The Kirin 9030 Pro is the first commercial chip built by SMIC using its N+3 process node.
There are two versions of the Kirin 9030 AP
To be clear, there are two versions of the AP. The Kirin 9030 Pro will power the Mate 80 RS Ultimate Design, and the higher-storage versions of the Mate 80 Pro (typically 16GB RAM models). The Kirin 9030 AP will power lower-storage versions of the Mate 80 Pro equipped with 12GB of RAM. The difference is that the Pro version of the chip operates 14 threats versus 12 for the non-Pro model. The base Mate 80 model sports last year's Kirin 9020 AP made using SMIC's N+7 process node.
Because both the Kirin 9030 Pro and Kirn 9030 have 9 CPU cores, some of the cores use Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) to handle more than one independent task (known as a thread) at a time. So, in other words, the Kirin 9030 Pro AP (with 14 threads) will have a slightly higher multi-core score than the Kirin 9030 AP (with 12 threads).
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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