Huawei Kirin 9030 Features 32.5nm Metal Pitch

Huawei's Mate 80 debuts the Kirin 9030, a 7nm SMIC chip with a metal pitch 10 percent tighter than Intel's upcoming 18A node.

The Kirin 9030 chipset powers the Huawei Mate 80 flagship series, manufactured by SMIC on a 7nm N+3 process. It features a 32.5nm metal pitch, which is 10 percent tighter than the 36nm pitch of Intel's 18A node on Panther Lake CPUs. SMIC achieved this density through multi-patterning, Design Technology Co-Optimization, and complex integration, whereas TSMC's N6 process relies on EUV. For comparison, the MediaTek Helio G99 has a 40nm pitch. The Kirin 9030 utilizes LogicFolding packaging and its prime core matches the performance of the 2021 Cortex-X2 at 4.5W. However, Apple's efficiency cores provide 20 percent higher integer performance while drawing only 1W.