Huawei proudly shows off an entirely un-American chip

Huawei has unveiled a groundbreaking processor, the Kirin 950 Pro, which it claims is entirely un-American and incorporated into a new three-screen folding phone. This processor features LinxiCore processor cores, GPU, and a neural processing unit, all of which have been designed by Huawei itself. The company has developed a unique architecture called "Tau Scaling" which arranges components closer together to reduce the die size and boost performance without the need for advanced chipmaking processes used by TSMC and Intel.

The Kirin 950 Pro is set to power Huawei's latest three-screen phone, the Mate XT2, priced at $2,979. According to analysts, Huawei aims to capture 24 percent of the total folding phone market by 2026, which accounted for 1.6 percent of smartphone sales last year. However, Huawei's new chip is unlikely to make a significant impact on the smartphone market as a whole.

At its launch event, Huawei executives highlighted their completely non-Android versions of HarmonyOS, which are now running on 85 million devices. While this is a strong uptake since the OS was launched in October 2024, it is still a mere fraction of the overall smartphone and smart device market. It remains to be seen if Huawei can adapt its new chip for other roles to help China reduce its reliance on imports from companies like AMD, Intel, and Nvidia.

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the phone launch, Huawei has not disclosed any plans to utilize its new chip in other applications. This means that Huawei's rivals in the chip-making industry are unlikely to be significantly threatened by this development in the near future. It is worth noting, however, that Huawei has been actively steering Chinese buyers away from products from Western chipmakers and encouraging the adoption of local alternatives.

The success of Chinese chipmakers beyond the borders of China remains to be seen, as their smartphones have gained notable traction in Europe, Africa, and Latin America, running on Android and accessing Google services. In contrast, Huawei's hardware and HarmonyOS ecosystem have not achieved similar success outside the Chinese market.