Huawei’s latest mobile is armed with China’s most advanced process node to date despite using blacklisted chipmaker — Huawei Kirin 9030 mobile SoC made on SMIC N+3 process, but can’t compete with 5nm node

TechInsights, a respected microelectronics research company, has examined Huawei’s latest HiSilicon Kirin 9030 processor and discovered that it was made using what they call N+3 fabrication technology, the most advanced manufacturing process that China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has to offer. Although TechInsights claims that SMIC’s N+3 is a step towards 5nm, it lags behind 5nm-class fabrication technologies from leading chipmakers.

Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 9030 and Kirin…