Rumors have been circulating for a while that China’s tech giants are capable of manufacturing chips in advanced nodes even without the need for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines by ASML, and that local foundry SMIC has reportedly produced 5nm chips for Huawei. Now there seems to be a new member joining the ranks of the elite. According to the reports by MyDrivers and Wccftech, Xiaomi has successfully taped out its first 3nm SoC.
Though more details are yet to be confirmed, Wccftech indicates that it is possible that Xiaomi will launch the 3nm chipset sometime next year.
Xiaomi, according to the reports, has been developing its own custom chipsets for years. The first product is believed to be Surge S1, which was released with the Mi 5c smartphone in 2017. The report by MyDrivers suggests that the Surge S1, built on 28nm node, is a 64-bit octa-core processor.
Following the Surge S1, Xiaomi went on to develop several chips, reportedly including the Surge C1, Surge G1, and Surge T1, according to MyDrivers.
The information of Xiaomi’s recent success in its 3nm chip tape-out is reportedly disclosed by Tang Jianguo, Chief Economist of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, at Beijing Satellite TV, MyDrivers notes. Citing Tang’s remarks, Wccftech indicates that the achievement is described as a historic milestone for China.
Wccftech further notes that as companies like Huawei have been prohibited from doing business with TSMC or Samsung due to U.S. trade sanctions, if Xiaomi does have reached the tape-out stage for its 3nm chipset, it could enable other Chinese companies, including Huawei, to leverage this technology in their devices.
However, more details are yet to be confirmed, as there are no updates on whether the SoC will use TSMC’s N3E process or the more advanced N3P node, according to Wccftech. Additionally, details about the chipset’s CPU cluster, GPU, or whether it will feature ARM designs or a custom architecture remain unknown. Therefore, it would be better to approach this rumor with caution.
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(Photo credit: Xiaomi)