TechInsights: Huawei's new Mate 70 Pro Plus has a Kirin 9020 chip made by SMIC using the same 7nm process as in 2023's Mate 60 Pro, despite rumors of a 5nm chip
Context & Ripple Effects
The Mate 70 Pro Plus extends the pattern established when the Mate 60 Pro’s SMIC-made 7nm Kirin chip emerged in 2023. A subsequent Pura 70 teardown likewise found a newer Kirin processor built on 7nm rather than a shrink to a newer node, making the reported Kirin 9020 result evidence of continuity in Huawei and SMIC’s available production technology, not the anticipated 5nm advance.
First-order effects
- Huawei’s new flagship is constrained to a 7nm-class Kirin 9020 rather than the rumored 5nm chip, limiting the immediate significance of the launch as a process-node breakthrough.
- SMIC retains a central role in Huawei’s in-house silicon supply, with the Mate 70 Pro Plus reinforcing the production path first demonstrated by the Mate 60 Pro’s domestic 7nm chip.
Second-order effects
- Huawei must compete at the premium-phone tier by extracting more from chip design, software, and device integration rather than relying on a leading-edge manufacturing-node gain.
- The repeat use of 7nm gives suppliers and policymakers a clearer signal that restrictions have not stopped domestic production, while also showing that access to newer process technology remains a binding constraint.
Third-order effects
- If successive Huawei products continue to reuse or refine mature domestic nodes, China’s chip ecosystem may deepen around design optimization, packaging, and component substitution instead of rapidly closing the leading-node gap.
- The pattern makes semiconductor controls a contest over sustained capability rather than a binary cutoff: domestic alternatives can support products, but process leadership remains harder to establish.
The trend: Huawei’s handset silicon strategy is becoming a test of how far domestic chip supply can sustain premium devices without access to the newest manufacturing nodes.