The tech giant claims it can reach cutting-edge chip density by 2031, closing the gap with TSMC.

Huawei has proposed a new guiding principle for the semiconductor industry that it says could allow it to design chips rivalling the world’s most advanced processes, without needing the cutting-edge manufacturing equipment it has been denied under US sanctions.

At the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Shanghai today (25 May), He Tingbo, president of Huawei’s semiconductor business and chair of its Scientist Committee, delivered a keynote speech entitled ‘New Semiconductor Path in Practice’, in which she presented what the company calls the ‘Tau Scaling Law’.

The law proposes replacing geometric scaling, the decades-old practice of physically shrinking transistors, with time scaling as the new guiding principle for semiconductor evolution. The idea is to reduce the time it takes for signals to propagate through chips and computing systems rather than making individual components smaller.

The principle has already acquired a nickname: “Her’s Law”, according to the South China Morning Post – a play on both He Tingbo’s surname and the tradition of naming foundational scientific laws after their originators, as with Moore’s Law.

The approach relies heavily on a technology Huawei calls LogicFolding. By breaking down the physical boundaries of traditional circuit layouts and significantly shortening critical-path wiring, LogicFolding aims to reduce resistive and capacitive load on signal propagation, ultimately boosting transistor density and circuit performance.

The ambitious production target puts Huawei in direct competition with the world’s leading chipmakers. According to Bloomberg, there is currently around a five-year gap between what TSMC can produce and what Huawei, working with its manufacturing partner SMIC, is capable of.

TSMC, the world’s largest producer of advanced chips, currently uses 2nm manufacturing technology and plans to introduce a 1.4nm process for mass production in 2028. Huawei says it will reach that same 1.4nm equivalence by 2031, although it did not provide independent data to support its claims.

Huawei says the framework is already in production. Over the past six years, it has designed and mass-produced 381 chips based on the Tau Scaling Law, for industries from smartphones to AI computing, it says. The Kirin chips scheduled to launch in autumn 2026 will be the first to adopt the LogicFolding architecture.

“We believe that openness and collaboration are key to driving ongoing progress in the semiconductor industry,” He Tingbo said. “No single company can independently find all the answers along the path of semiconductor evolution.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently told CNBC the company had “largely conceded” China’s AI chip market to Huawei.

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