China’s Huawei unveils new sanctions-busting chip architecture that replaces Moore’s Law

Chinese electronics giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. today unveiled a new chip design framework that it says will help it to close the gap in the semiconductor industry with global leaders like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Nvidia Corp.

The company also announced a new “Tau Scaling Law” as a replacement for Moore’s Law in future chip scaling, and said it’s targeting 1.4-nanometer class chips and a 55% increase in transistor density by 2031.

Announced at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Shanghai today, the new chip design method is primarily about helping China to circumvent the strict sanctions placed on it by the United States. In the last few years, the U.S. has increasingly tightened its restrictions on the kinds of chips China can import from western countries, preventing it from importing the most advanced semiconductors and also the most sophisticated extreme ultraviolet or EUV lithography machines required to manufacture them.

During a keynote address at the event, Huawei’s He Tingbo (pictured), a board member and Chairman of its HiSilicon Semiconductor division, unveiled a new proprietary “LogicFolding” architecture for chip design. It’s a cutting-edge blueprint that’s based on the new Tau Scaling Law. He revealed that Huawei has spent more than six years quietly refining the architecture, which introduces a new methodology for manufacturing advanced processors. During that time, it has secretly designed and produced 381 chips based on the blueprint, validating its engineering principles. The architecture will finally make its commercial debut this autumn with the launch of Huawei’s new flagship Kirin smartphone processor, He said.

Traditional semiconductor manufacturing designs have always followed Moore’s Law, which is about geometric scaling and shrinking physical transistor sizes. It’s a basic principle followed by western chipmakers for decades, but with sanctions blocking China from procuring the most advanced EUV machines to implement that approach, it has pivoted to an entirely novel methodology.

Tau Scaling Law is a “temporal scaling framework” that prioritizes things like signal speed rather than transistor size, and is focused on optimizing how rapidly data moves across the system rather than how small the components are. To execute this principle on a commercial level, Huawei developed the LogicFolding architecture, which is a blueprint that physically folds and stacks logic circuits onto a dual-layer framework. By shortening the internal wiring to reduce signal delay, Huawei says it has achieved a 55% reduction in transistor density and a 41% increase in power efficiency. This means it can build a completely different yet still cutting-edge processor that matches the performance of western chips, without expensive EUV machines.

The new Kirin smartphone chip will make its debut in the upcoming Huawei Mate 90 handset that’s expected to go on sale in the fall. The company said it hopes to scale the LogicFolding architecture to its Ascend AI processors, which are alternatives to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, and bring it to high-capacity artificial intelligence data centers by 2030. By 2031, the company believes it will be able to build chips that match the performance of western-made 1.4nm processors. TSMC hopes to be able to mass-produce 1.4nm chips by 2028.

The announcement appears to be the result of a concerted effort by China’s government to reduce its reliance on foreign chipmakers. Over the last few years, it has invested aggressively into its domestic chipmaking capabilities, pursuing alternative chip designs.

Omdia analyst Lian Jye Su told the Wall Street Journal that it remains to be seen if Huawei can really do this. “But it’s an alternative path forward, and a breakthrough Huawei managed to find while facing supply chain challenges,” he added.

Huawei’s announcement comes as China continues its push to end dependence on foreign semiconductor players — amid sanctions and concerns about over-reliance — by aggressively investing in domestic companies and alternative technologies. In the wake of the announcement, shares of China’s largest contract chip manufacturer, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co., jumped more than 19%. The breakthrough represents a symbolic win for the country’s push towards self-sufficiency in chipmaking, and if Huawei can stick to its timeline, it would significantly mitigate the impact of U.S. sanctions.

Photos: Huawei