Report: Huawei’s Kirin Chip May Have Been Accelerated by Bitcoin Mining Orders

A caller study by The Miner Mag suggests bitcoin mining orders mightiness person sped up Huawei’s improvement of its caller Kirin smartphone chip. The chip, which powers Huawei’s caller Mate 60 Pro smartphone, was produced by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) utilizing its N+2 7nm process.

Research Suggests Bitcoin Mining Boosted Huawei’s Chip Development, Reducing China’s Dependence connected Western Tech

The Miner Mag reported that bitcoin mining companies were among the archetypal to bargain SMIC’s N+1 process, ordering wafers and providing the measurement that helped SMIC amended its 7nm production. The Miner Mag is simply a blog and information work by Blocksbridge Consulting focusing connected the bitcoin mining industry.

Guess who was among the archetypal batch of companies that did tape-out and accumulation connected SMIC's N+1 7-nm chips that aboriginal proved to powerfulness Huawei's comeback?#bitcoin https://t.co/XXbBMWxdvw pic.twitter.com/MHxvcaDaXn

— TheMinerMag (@TheMinerMag_) September 4, 2023

The survey notes that Huawei has faced challenges accessing precocious spot accumulation since it was added to a U.S. commercialized blacklist successful 2019. After its erstwhile supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), was chopped off, Huawei turned to SMIC to nutrient its caller Kirin chip. However, SMIC initially couldn’t nutrient precocious 7nm chips.

The study says companies similar bitcoin miner shaper Canaan started creating spot designs connected SMIC’s first-generation 7nm N+1 process successful precocious 2020. Canaan’s measurement orders reportedly helped SMIC’s output complaint for the N+1 chips transcend 90%. Other bitcoin miner manufacturers, including Innosilicon and Miner-VA, besides utilized SMIC’s N+1 process, the researcher said.

The survey indicates the increasing orders from bitcoin miners helped SMIC refine its 7nm accumulation capabilities. This mightiness person sped up Huawei’s improvement of its caller Kirin spot utilizing SMIC’s enhanced N+2 process. While it’s hard to measurement bitcoin mining’s nonstop impact, Miner Mag’s findings stress that miners were aboriginal buyers and accordant customers for SMIC’s emerging 7nm production.

Their orders were indispensable successful helping code problems and amended yields. The study concludes that this hands-on acquisition apt aided China’s SMIC successful producing Huawei’s precocious caller smartphone processor. The study points retired that SMIC’s 7nm advancements person important implications for decreasing China’s dependence connected Western spot technologies.

What bash you deliberation astir the study that suggests Huawei’s improvement of its caller Kirin smartphone spot whitethorn person been sped up by bitcoin mining? Share your thoughts and opinions astir this taxable successful the comments conception below.