Huawei’s 7nm chip outperforms Apple’s 3nm processor in multicore tests, Bernstein says

Huawei Technologies' newest smartphone processor has closed the performance gap with Apple ↘ 0.83% to roughly three years, down from four years in the previous generation, according to a report from equity research firm Bernstein published on Monday.

The Kirin 9050 Pro, which Bernstein estimated was manufactured using technology equivalent to a 7-nanometer process node, outperformed Apple's 3nm A17 Pro in Geekbench 6 multicore tests, a widely used benchmark that measures how effectively processors handle tasks across multiple CPU cores. Apple's A17 Pro, released in 2023, was the first mass-produced 3nm smartphone processor.scmp+1

Architectural Innovation Over Lithographic Shrinking

The result is notable because it was achieved without extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the advanced chipmaking equipment that U.S. export restrictions have kept out of China. Bernstein estimated the Kirin 9050 Pro was manufactured on SMIC's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation N+2 or N+3 process technology, which uses older deep ultraviolet lithography.huaweicentral+1

Huawei debuted the chip earlier this month alongside its Mate XT 2 tri-fold smartphone. The processor is the first commercial application of Huawei's Tau Scaling Law, a framework the company introduced at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in May. Rather than pursuing traditional geometric transistor shrinking, the approach optimizes for the time it takes signals to travel within a chip.huawei+2

Under this framework, Huawei developed a technique called LogicFolding, which stacks circuits vertically and links them through a high-density interconnect network, shortening signal paths to improve processing efficiency. The company said the technology increased transistor density by more than 50 percent, reaching 238 million transistors per square millimeter. Bernstein called the advance an "underestimated breakthrough," noting that architectural improvements have driven Huawei's catch-up.sedaily+3

Still Trailing Apple's Latest Chip

Despite the multicore gains over the A17 Pro, the Kirin 9050 Pro still trails Apple's newest 2nm A20 Pro by about 30 percent in overall performance, according to Bernstein. In single-core tests, the Huawei chip performed closer to processors built on TSMC's Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ↘ 1.04% older 4nm-class technology.scmp+1

Huawei has not officially disclosed the exact manufacturing process node for the Kirin 9050 Pro. The chip also delivers a 39 percent improvement in graphics performance and approximately 150 percent higher neural processing unit throughput compared with its predecessor, the Kirin 9030 Pro.huaweicentral