Former TSMC, IBM Exec Says Huawei Can Make Even More Advanced 5nm Chips

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After the Chinese technology firm Huawei created waves in the media earlier this year by being able to introduce advanced semiconductors in its devices despite U.S. sanctions aimed at preventing it from doing so, a former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) executive believes that Huawei can make even more advanced chips with the machines currently at its disposal. Huawei does not manufacture its own chips since nearly all consumer electronics firms rely on contract chip manufacturers such as TSMC to build them due to high capital expenditure requirements.

After it was stopped from procuring chips from TSMC, Huawei and China's leading chip maker, the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), have partnered up to try to bring advanced chips to the market despite the U.S. restrictions.

Huawei made headlines in September when a teardown of one of its latest smartphones, the Mate 60, revealed that its processor was built through a 7-nanometer chip node. For most media observers, this was a surprise since not only can Huawei not source its chips from TSMC, but its primary supplier SMIC, is also restricted from buying advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines from the Dutch firm ASML.

While the common understanding of the chip sector assumes that EUV machines are absolutely necessary to make 7-nanometer and smaller chips, the reality is different. Semiconductor fabrication firms such as TSMC can use EUV's predecessors, deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines to make them. However, EUV is typically preferred since it enables the manufacturers to print out smaller