{"id":321,"date":"2026-05-25T05:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/?p=321"},"modified":"2026-05-25T05:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:25:13","slug":"huawei-plans-1-4-nm-chips-by-2031","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/?p=321","title":{"rendered":"Huawei plans 1.4-nm chips by 2031"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a major bid to bypass crippling U.S. technology sanctions, China\u2019s Huawei Technologies has unveiled an ambitious semiconductor roadmap, projecting the design of high-end chips with a transistor density equivalent to a 1.4-nanometer (1.4-nm) process node by 2031.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement was made on Monday, May 25, 2026, by He Tingbo\u2014President of Huawei\u2019s HiSilicon semiconductor division and chair of the company’s Scientist Committee\u2014during a keynote speech at the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS)<\/strong> in Shanghai.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Strategy: Sidestepping Traditional Moore’s Law<\/sup><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because Washington has strictly blocked China’s access to advanced Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment from ASML, Chinese foundries cannot easily manufacture chips using traditional geometric shrinking.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To overcome this, Huawei introduced a new architectural framework called the Tau (<\/sup>$\\tau$) Scaling Law<\/strong> (referred to by some industry peers as He’s Law<\/em>).<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Time Over Geometry:<\/strong> Traditional chip scaling relies on making transistors physically smaller (node scaling). The Tau Scaling Law flips the script by focusing on system-level efficiency scaling<\/strong>\u2014specifically cutting down the time (latency) it takes for data and electronic signals to propagate through devices, circuits, and systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The LogicFolding Solution:<\/strong> Alongside the scaling law, Huawei unveiled its LogicFolding<\/strong> architecture. This design dramatically shortens the physical wiring inside a chip, reducing resistive and capacitive loads. By stacking silicon and optimizing internal interconnects, Huawei claims it can mimic the performance and transistor density of a 1.4-nm node without requiring the tight sub-atomic physical engraving of Western foundries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    2. Slicing Open the Roadmap: 2026 to 2031<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Huawei stressed that this isn’t just a theoretical research paper. The company claims it has quietly designed and mass-produced 381 distinct chips over the past six years<\/strong> utilizing early variations of this system-level architecture.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The upcoming deployment schedule aims to directly challenge Western silicon pacesetters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Target Era \/ Release<\/strong><\/td>Chip Lineup Affected<\/strong><\/td>Architectural Focus & Milestones<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
    Autumn 2026<\/strong><\/td>Kirin Smartphone Processors<\/strong><\/td>Will be the commercial debut of the LogicFolding<\/strong> architecture, drastically shortening internal signal paths to boost efficiency.<\/td><\/tr>
    2026\u20132028<\/strong><\/td>Ascend AI Chips<\/strong> (950, 960, and 970 series)<\/em><\/td>Retooling data center hardware to establish a robust domestic alternative to Nvidia’s computing architecture.<\/td><\/tr>
    By 2031<\/strong><\/td>Next-Gen Frontier Silicon<\/strong><\/td>Target window to hit 1.4-nm class transistor density equivalence<\/strong> via complete system-level optimization.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    3. Industry Realism vs. Geopolitical Insulations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Independent semiconductor analysts view Huawei\u2019s 1.4-nm equivalent target with a mix of fascination and caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On one hand, tech firms like TSMC are already targeting true, native 1.4-nm physical mass production by 2028.<\/sup> Huawei’s 2031 timeline for density equivalence<\/em> means China will technically remain a few years behind the absolute global manufacturing frontier.<\/sup> Furthermore, Huawei has not yet published independent, third-party performance or toxicological yield data to validate its laboratory benchmarks.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the other hand, industry experts from firms like Omdia point out that system-level scaling\u2014relying on advanced packaging, 3D chiplet stacking, and signal path compression\u2014is a highly credible way to squeeze bleeding-edge performance out of older, legally available manufacturing equipment. By formalizing the Tau Scaling Law, Huawei is building a vital blueprint to insulate China’s domestic AI, smartphone, and supercomputing infrastructure from future Western trade embargoes.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In a major bid to bypass crippling U.S. technology sanctions, China\u2019s Huawei Technologies has unveiled an ambitious semiconductor roadmap, projecting the design of high-end chips with a transistor density equivalent to a 1.4-nanometer (1.4-nm) process node by 2031. The announcement was made on Monday, May 25, 2026, by He Tingbo\u2014President of Huawei\u2019s HiSilicon semiconductor division […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice.lapaas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}