[News] Huawei’s AI Ambition Set Back as Its Chips Reportedly Fall Three Generations Behind NVIDIA

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According to a Wccftech report, citing Bloomberg, Huawei’s efforts to develop more advanced chips for AI have faced significant setbacks due to U.S. sanctions, making it unable to match the performance of even older NVIDIA products.

The report notes that the sanctions have blocked Taiwan’s TSMC from manufacturing the most advanced chips for China and prevented Chinese chipmakers from acquiring the latest chip manufacturing equipment from ASML, making it hard for China to produce advanced chips. As a result, Huawei’s efforts to develop AI chips are restricted to the 7nm process and are expected to remain so for the next two years, as the report indicates.

Huawei’s AI Chip Push Hindered by U.S. Sanctions on SMIC

The report highlights that NVIDIA’s latest AI chips, the H100 lineup, are manufactured using TSMC’s 4nm process, which is significantly more advanced than TSMC’s 7nm technology.

However, due to sanctions imposed by the Biden administration, Huawei’s main production partner, China’s SMIC, is prohibited from obtaining ASML’s latest extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, preventing it from advancing beyond the 7nm process to more advanced technologies, as noted by the report.

ASML is the sole provider of these advanced EUV machines worldwide. SMIC is limited to using older scanners that rely on deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography. As a result, the report notes that, citing sources, SMIC has been forced to rely on multi-patterning techniques in an effort to manufacture 7nm chips.

According to the report, in chipmaking, multi-patterning involves dividing a mask (which contains the circuit design) into sections, allowing each part to be “printed” onto silicon separately to achieve the resolution required for smaller feature sizes. However, the report notes that this process increases production time and poses quality challenges.

7nm Yield Issues Remain a Challenge

According to the Bloomberg report, SMIC is even struggling to produce 7nm chips at consistent volumes. Citing industry sources, the report highlights that SMIC’s 7nm production lines have been hampered by low yields and reliability issues.

The report highlights that SMIC is not only forced to rely on multi-patterning to circumvent the restrictions but also faces challenges from government pressure to use local equipment. This has left SMIC lagging behind older Western chip manufacturing technologies.

With TSMC gearing up to produce 2nm chips next year, and SMIC still struggling with multi-patterning and domestic manufacturing equipment, Huawei’s attempts to develop its own AI processors face considerable challenges, as the report indicates.

These challenges not only undermine Huawei’s competitiveness in the consumer electronics market, where it competes with rivals like Apple, but also hinder China’s efforts to achieve semiconductor self-sufficiency in the AI era and stay on par with the U.S., according to the report.

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(Photo credit: Huawei)