Huawei Technologies on Monday unveiled a new chip development approach that it said could help China advance its semiconductor industry despite ongoing United States export restrictions.
Speaking at a semiconductor conference in Shanghai, Huawei said it plans to use a new engineering method called “LogicFolding” in its Kirin smartphone chips later this year.
The company said the approach could eventually allow its chips to achieve performance comparable to some of the world’s most advanced semiconductors by 2031.
The announcement comes as China seeks to reduce reliance on foreign chip technology while competing with U.S. and Taiwanese firms at the forefront of semiconductor development.
Huawei said its technology could eventually deliver capabilities equivalent to “1.4-nanometre-class” chips, which are expected to represent the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing by the end of the decade.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the global leader in advanced chip production, is currently making 2-nanometre chips and plans to begin mass production of 1.4-nanometre chips in 2028.
The company also said it has designed and mass-produced 381 chips using its “Tau Scaling Law” framework over the past six years, for applications including smartphones and artificial intelligence computing.
Following the announcement, industry experts cautioned that Huawei’s claims have not yet been proven at scale, noting that significant manufacturing and technical challenges remain.