Huawei's new server CPU based on the HiSilicon Taishan V120 core has shown impressive single-threaded performance that matches AMD's Zen 3 architecture in a leaked Geekbench 6 benchmark. The Taishan V120 is likely being manufactured on SMIC's 7 nm process node. The Geekbench 6 result posted on social media does not identify the exact Huawei server CPU model, but speculation points to it being the upcoming Kunpeng 930 chip. In the benchmark, the Taishan V120 CPU operating at 2.9 GHz scored 1527 in the single-core test. This positions it nearly equal to AMD's EPYC 7413 server CPU based on the Zen 3 architecture, which boosts up to 3.6 GHz and which scored 1538 points. It also matches the single-threaded performance of Intel's Coffee Lake-based Xeon E-2136 from 2018, even though that Intel chip can reach 4.5 GHz boost speeds, scoring 1553 points.

The Taishan V120 core first appeared in Huawei's Kirin 9000 smartphone SoC in 2020. Using the core in server CPUs would allow Huawei to achieve competitive single-threaded performance to rival AMD's last-generation EPYC Milan and Intel's older Skylake server chips. Multi-threaded benchmarks will be required to gauge the Kunpeng 930's overall performance fully when it launches. Huawei continues innovating its ARM-based server CPU designs even while facing restrictions on manufacturing and selling chips internationally due to its inclusion on the US Entity List in 2019. The impressive single-threaded results versus leading x86 competitors demonstrate Huawei's resilience and self-reliance in developing homegrown data center technology through its HiSilicon division. More details on the Kunpeng 930 server chip will likely surface later this year, along with server configurations from Chinese OEMs.

Huawei's Ascend 910B AI GPU is reportedly in high demand in China—we last learned that NVIDIA's latest US sanction-busting H20 "Hopper" model is lined up as a main competitor, allegedly in terms of both pricing and performance. A recent Reuters report proposes that Huawei is reacting to native enterprise market trends by shifting its production priorities—in favor of Ascend product ranges, while demoting their Kirin smartphone chipset family. Generative AI industry experts believe that the likes of Alibaba and Tencent have rejected Team Green's latest batch of re-jigged AI chips (H20, L20 and L2)—tastes have gradually shifted to locally developed alternatives.

Huawei leadership is seemingly keen to seize these growth opportunities—their Ascend 910B is supposedly ideal for workloads "that require low-to-mind inferencing power." Reuters has spoken to three anonymous sources—all with insider knowledge of goings-on at a single facility that manufacturers Ascend AI chips and the Kirin smartphone SoCs. Two of the leakers claim that this unnamed fabrication location is facing many "production quality" challenges, namely output being "hamstrung by a low yield rate." The report claims that Huawei has pivoted by deprioritizing Kirin 9000S (7 nm) production, thus creating a knock-on effect for its premium Mate 60 smartphone range.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) is preparing new semiconductor production lines at its Shanghai facilities according to a fresh Reuters report—China's largest contract chip maker is linked to next generation Huawei SoC designs, possibly 5 nm-based Kirin models. SMIC's newest Shanghai wafer fabrication site was an expensive endeavor—involving a $8.8 billion investment—but their flagship lines face a very challenging scenario with new phases of mass production. Huawei, a key customer, is expected to "upgrade" to a 5 nm process for new chip designs—their current flagship, Kirin 9000S, is based on a SMIC 7 nm node. Reuter's industry sources believe that the foundry's current stable of "U.S. and Dutch-made equipment" will be deployed to "produce 5-nanometer chips."

Revised trade rulings have prevented ASML shipping advanced DUV machinery to mainland China manufacturing sites—SMIC workers have reportedly already repurposed the existing inventory of lithography equipment for next-gen pursuits. Burn Lin (ex-TSMC), a renowned "chip guru," believes that it is possible to mass produce 5 nm product on slightly antiquated gear (previously used for 7 nm)—but the main caveats being increased expense and low yields. According to a DigiTimes Asia report, mass production of a 5 nm SoC on SMIC's existing DUV lithography would require four-fold patterning in a best case scenario.

According to the latest teardown from TechInsights, China's biggest technology maker, Huawei, has been shipping laptops with technology supposedly sanctioned by the United States. As the teardown shows, TechInisights has discovered that Huawei's Kirin 9006C processor is manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm semiconductor technology. Originally, the United States have imposed sanctions on Huawei back in 2020, when the government cut off Huawei's access from TSMC's advanced facilities and forbade the use of the latest nodes by Huawei's HiSilicon chip design arm. Today's findings show signs of contradiction, as the Qingyun L540 notebook that launched in December 2023 employs a Kirin 9006C chipset manufactured on a TSMC 5 nm node.

TechInsight's findings indicate that Kirin 9006C assembly and packaging occurred around the third quarter of 2020, whereas the 2020 Huawei sanctions started in the second quarter. Of course, the implication of the sanctions likely prohibited any new orders and didn't prevent Huawei from possibly stockpiling millions of chip orders in its warehouse before they took place. The Chinese giant probably made orders beforehand and is using the technology only now, with the Qingyun L540 laptop being one of the first Kirin 9006C appearances. Some online retailers also point out that the laptop complies with the latest security practices required for the government, which means that they have been in the works since the chip began the early stages of design, way before 2020. We don't know the stockpile quantity, but SMIC's domestic efforts seem insufficient to supply the Chinese market alone. The news that Huawei is still using TSMC chips made SMIC's share go for a 2% free fall on the Hong Kong stock exchange.