Huawei recently introduced new flagshipThe Huawei Mate 70, which has just entered the Chinese market, is the sequel to last year’s controversial Mate 60. The Kirin chip caused controversy and angered the United States because it was produced with banned technology.

This year, China is pursuing and maintaining technological self-sufficiency at every level: semiconductors for smartphones and even GPUs for Artificial Intelligence. The new Mate 70 Pro+ hits the table after US vetoes and represents a major milestone for the Asian country: Huawei announced: They reached 100% domestic production.

One small step to stop being dependent on the West

China, which is moving towards technological independence, is also involved in Huawei, SMC and HiSilicon. Three companies that resist vetoes What the US has been implementing for several years. With limited production of processors, the Chinese manufacturer has achieved the unthinkable using old machines.

And the new milestone Huawei Mate 70 Pro+ chipA terminal sweeping sales in China. The Kirin 9020 replaces the controversial Kirin 9000S, but it’s not much different: It’s manufactured with a 7-nanometer process, this time with extra raw power.

The Kirin 9020 does not appear on the technical sheet of the new Huawei smartphone: the company was jealous at launch and had to get into the hands of users so that we could discover from HiSilicon what is hidden behind this Kirin. However, although Huawei tries to hide this, it boasts that they have now reached 100 percent domestic production. This isn’t the first time the Kirin chip has relied on foreign technology.

It was bound to happen, but we didn’t know when. After the launch of the Huawei Pura 70 in April this year, we knew that the Chinese company was very close to achieving this milestone: a few months later it became reality. The circle is closing and represents a new point in the technological development of the Asian giant.

On the other hand, SMIC, which is mainly responsible for the chip and is a partner of Huawei and HiSilicon, also benefits from recent launches. Their revenues rose sharply due to a boom in demand. Despite their good moments, they are struggling to cope with US vetoes that leave them without state-of-the-art equipment that would improve the manufacturing process of their semiconductors.

We are still a long way from Qualcomm or MediaTek. The new Kirin 9020 in Huawei Mate 70 Pro+, Big Core, three performance cores and four cores focused on energy efficiency. This architecture is not enough to catch up with either the Snapdragon 8 Elite or the previous generation Qualcomm chips. Of course, performance tests confirm that it surpasses the Google Pixel 9’s Tensor G4.

Huawei isn’t worried about raw power. The latest Kirin won’t be the most powerful, but it offers plenty of performance: we tested this when we analyzed the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra with Kirin 9010. No matter what happens, the important thing for Huawei is to be able to stop. It depends on foreign technology and that’s why you’re in luck. In software, HarmonyOS Next is responsible for replacing Android, it already has basic applications for Chinese users.

via | Xataka Mobile

Cover image | Images from Huawei and Free Malaysia Today

Xataka on Android | HarmonyOS Next is not official in Europe but I’ve already tried it. I even made my first application