We cut open the Kirin 9030 and put it under an electron microscope. The smallest metal pitch measures 32.5 nanometers. That is tighter than Intel 18A， their brand new leading edge node.
A Chinese fab with no EUV is out-pitching Intel's EUV node by roughly 10 percent. What's going on here？ 🤯
"This is the HiSilicon Kirin 9030， the chip inside Huawei's newest flagship phone. A few weeks ago， we cut it open， put it under an electron microscope， and measured the smallest wires inside the chip， the metal pitch. And what we saw was unexpected. The smallest metal pitch inside the Kirin 9030 measures only 32.5 nanometers. That's smaller than the metal pitch in Panther Lake， which is based on Intel's brand-new 18A node.
A Chinese fab， cut off from the most advanced tools， without EUV， is packing its wires about ten percent tighter than Intel's leading edge EUV node. What's going on here？"