Look at this title carefully. In fact, it contains two questions. The first question is, is the Kirin processor developed by Huawei itself? The second question is, is the Kirin processor manufactured by Huawei itself?
The second question is very simple, no.
Kirin processors are entrusted to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. for OEM production. Currently, there are not many foundries around the world that can produce high-end chips. Intel can produce it itself, but the technology has not improved in the past two years. Although Intel has always insisted that its chip production technology is ahead of TSMC and Samsung, when looking at the numbers, it is indeed lagging behind.
In addition to Intel and TSMC, only Samsung, SMIC, etc. can OEM high-end chip production. SMIC is located in mainland China, but its output is limited and cannot be produced on a large scale. Samsung and TSMC have been competing for the chip foundry business of major companies, but I believe everyone is well aware of the fact that Samsung lags behind TSMC.
In addition to OEM Kirin processors, TSMC also OEMs Qualcomm processors, Nvidia graphics cards, AMD processors, etc.
But the first problem is complicated. Is the Kirin processor developed by Huawei itself?
Yes and no. Not exactly, but you can't say it's not.
The Kirin processor is based on the ARM architecture and is a chip independently developed by Huawei. So what is the ARM architecture?
ARM is a reduced instruction set CPU architecture designed by British Acorn Co., Ltd. Now the company is acquired by Japan's SoftBank.
Acorn sells two contents, one is the licensing fee to acquire ARM, and the other is the ARM public version chip drawing designed by Acorn itself.
Whether it is Apple's A-series processor, Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor, Taiwan's MediaTek MTK processor, Samsung's processor, including our domestic Spreadtrum processor and the Kirin processor mentioned in the question The processors are all re-designed CPU processor chips based on ARM's authorization.
So, Huawei’s Kirin processor is not a completely independently developed processor from scratch. There is no doubt about it.
But the question is, why not design it yourself from scratch? In addition, is it difficult to carry out secondary design on this basis? Are Huawei’s achievements worthy of recognition?
Why not start from scratch? There are many reasons for this, including design difficulty, software and hardware ecology, industry chain company support, licensing and copyright issues, etc., all of which make it impossible to design a chip from scratch.
Is it difficult to design a chip based on ARM? I am not a practitioner in the chip field, and I cannot judge whether it is difficult to design a chip from a technical perspective. But we can consider from several objective facts whether it is difficult to design a chip based on ARM.
Qualcomm is so awesome that the chips it designs have always been beaten by Apple's A-series processors in terms of performance. Currently two generations ahead of Qualcomm.
MediaTek has a good chip design foundation and considerable expertise in baseband research and development. It has been beaten by MTK chips and Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors, and has now given up on the high-end field.
Samsung's processor performance has always been very powerful, but it cannot solve the baseband problem and excessive heat generation. Currently, no mobile phone manufacturer uses Samsung's chips. Even Samsung uses Qualcomm processors in its flagships.
Xiaomi successfully produced the first-generation chip processor based on Lianxin’s drawings, but the second-generation has not yet been launched. How many rice noodles were calling, but there was still no movement.
From the above facts, we can infer that it is very difficult to design a mobile phone flagship processor chip. If any technology company can make an awesome chip just by buying a blueprint, then there will definitely be a lot of chips on the market, and it won’t be Qualcomm’s turn to make a fuss.
What is the level of Huawei’s Kirin processor? In one sentence - Qualcomm’s level. Currently, Huawei and Qualcomm alternately compete for the top spot besides Apple's A-series chips.
For example, 970 is better than 835, 845 is better than 970, 980 is better than 845, the unreleased 855 is better than 980, and Huawei’s unreleased 990 is better than 855.
The two are very closely interlocked. After a few months of competing for the lead, the other company's new flagship chip surpassed it.
Looking at the entire market, as a latecomer in chip design, Huawei’s achievement is certainly worthy of recognition and praise.
Don’t praise Huawei too much, because in front of Huawei and Qualcomm, is there an Apple that you haven’t seen? Although it is not easy to compete with each other, it does not last forever! Calm down, there are stronger opponents.
Don’t belittle Huawei too much. Look, we have achieved such results. It should be based on praise and affirmation. You can do it and you can do it. It doesn’t take much effort to type on the keyboard!
Speaking of Huawei's Kirin processor, people will praise it with great admiration as "very powerful". So is the Kirin processor developed and manufactured by Huawei itself?
Any technology company understands that the development of a processor requires very complicated calculations and construction, and also requires countless manpower, financial and material resources. The current processor development is based on the UK A CPU architecture called ARM developed by Acorn.
To put it simply, developing a processor is like building a big house, then the CPU is equivalent to the built steel structure, and the specific outline of the house can be seen. A house with only a steel frame is not enough. It also needs to be filled with cement, a solid foundation, and the entire house fully decorated. A series of filling parts are completed by companies that develop processors. To put it simply, Huawei's Kirin Processing The processor is derived from the second program editing on this CPU architecture.
Therefore, not all of Huawei’s Kirin processors are developed by Huawei, but at least 80% are independently designed and developed, so there is no need to question Huawei’s strength, because all current processors on the market are All processors, whether Qualcomm, Apple or Samsung, are basically based on the ARM design framework, so the degree of independent research and development of Huawei's Kirin processors is still very high.
After talking about research and development, let’s take a look at the production process of Kirin chips. Huawei chose TSMC in Taiwan for OEM production. TSMC’s factory is an old brand manufacturer of chips, and the value of its craftsmanship cannot be overstated. And Yu, all the chips produced are strive for excellence.
The HiSilicon Kirin processor is developed by Huawei, but it is not manufactured by Huawei. It is manufactured by the famous TSMC. TSMC is very well-known in the manufacturing field. All Apple processors are manufactured by TSMC. of.
The HiSilicon Kirin processor was developed by Huawei. The project started in 2004, and the first-generation Kirin chip was launched in 2008. At that time, Ren Zhengfei still operated the Kirin chip as a separate subsidiary, but it suffered losses. After spending hundreds of millions, we finally decided to put it into the same company as mobile phones, and with the firm investment, HiSilicon Kirin chips were finally developed and became a domestic processor comparable to Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.
HiSilicon Kirin chips are developed based on ARM, whether it is Apple's A processor, Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor, Taiwan's MediaTek MTK processor, or Samsung's processor. It is the processor architecture of ARM.
Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin processor is very powerful and is close to Qualcomm’s level, but it is still far behind Apple’s A-series chips. However, a mobile phone company can compete with a company that specializes in chip processors. The comparison shows how powerful Huawei is. After all, Huawei invests more than 90 billion in research and development every year.
Now Huawei is an important leader in domestic chips. With the help of partners such as Cambrian Smart AI Chip, it is already developing super chips. Be proud of domestic brands.
This is how I understand the Kirin processor: the Kirin processor is a building, and Huawei is responsible for the drawing design; ARM and other companies provide various concrete and other materials (CPU, GPU, etc.); TSMC is responsible for the construction. If explained this way, it should work. Of course, the building (Kirin processor) built by Huawei belongs to Party A and is its property! Of course it is owned by Huawei!
I believe that the Kirin processor has been explained very clearly before. In fact, processor manufacturers including Apple, Qualcomm and other processors produce their processors this way.
For example, CPU architectures are basically all from ARM. Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm all have to use its architecture, and Kirin processors are naturally not immune. We can’t use ARM’s architecture just because Kirin processors architecture, it denies the autonomy of Huawei’s Kirin processor.
We have also seen companies such as ARM provide materials. The companies here actually include Huawei itself. Huawei’s achievements in the baseband field are obvious. We know the Barong baseband. The SoC is divided into two parts, one is called BP (Baseband Processor) and AP (Application Processor). Among them, BP is the baseband chip. In 2010, it launched the industry's first terminal chip supporting TD-LTE, Balong 700.
In 2015, the Balong 750 was released, the world’s first baseband chip supporting LTE Cat.12/13.
Nowadays, what we are looking forward to more is the cooperation between Kirin 980 and Barong 5000. This baseband that supports 5G network may have better performance!
In actual development, Kirin processors have been advancing by leaps and bounds with a high profile. Although there is still a gap between it and Apple Qualcomm, it is not easy to slowly catch up. We look forward to the day when it will overcome all obstacles!
It is developed by Huawei and manufactured by TSMC.
The Kirin chip developed by HiSilicon Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Huawei, is now well-known at home and abroad. Currently, there are four companies that can design high-end mobile phone chips in the world: Apple, Qualcomm in the United States, Samsung in South Korea, and Huawei in China. Kirin 980 is the first 7nm chip released globally. Currently, only three 7nm chips, Kirin 980, Apple A12 and Qualcomm 855, have reached mass production.
Some people may argue that Huawei’s Kirin mobile phone processor uses the British ARM architecture and is not independently developed. I want to say that 100% independent research and development is a natural economy, not a market economy. Samsung Orion and Apple A-series chips both use ARM architecture. Are they independently developed? If a farmer grows food, does he have to produce his own hoes and fertilizers to be considered autonomous?
Let’s talk about manufacturing. There are many wafer foundries around the world, and companies in the United States, Taiwan, mainland my country, and South Korea are able to manufacture chips. But there are generally two companies that can produce high-end mobile phone chips: TSMC and Samsung.
With a market share of more than 50%, TSMC is the world's largest and most technologically advanced wafer foundry. It is currently able to mass-produce 7nm high-end mobile phone chips. Apple A12, Snapdragon 855, and Kirin 980 are all manufactured by TSMC.
The only company in the world that can both develop and manufacture mobile phone chips is Samsung Electronics. However, Samsung’s R&D is not as good as Qualcomm and Huawei, and its manufacturing is not as good as TSMC. In addition, Samsung's Orion high-end chip has a major flaw, that is, it does not support full Netcom. Therefore, Samsung’s high-end mobile phones will use Snapdragon processors in overseas markets.
There are only a few popular self-developed smartphone processors on the market today, including Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, and MediaTek. Coincidentally, these companies all use the ARM architecture. It has almost become an unwritten common sense. The architecture of smartphone processors is all based on ARM. It is only developed to a certain extent, and then it is deeply transformed or even transformed into its own architecture system.
It is not a shame for Huawei to use the ARM public version architecture to develop mobile phone processors, and the Kirin chip also integrates many of Huawei's own things on it to become a SOC. It’s just that Huawei has not yet fully transformed the ARM public version architecture into its own architecture. At a certain stage, Huawei should take this path. The success of Qualcomm and Apple mobile phone chips has pointed out such a path. Even if it uses the ARM public version architecture, the intellectual property rights of the final processor still fall into its own hands. As for being blocked by ARM in the future, it is estimated that Huawei will have corresponding plans.
As for manufacturing, the separation of chip design and manufacturing is basically a standard practice in the industry. Those who engage in design only engage in design, and those engaged in manufacturing only engage in manufacturing. However, successful design and manufacturing are extremely rare. In the industry, just like Intel, there are only a handful of them. Huawei does not currently produce its own Kirin processors, and it is unlikely that it will produce them in the future. There is such a powerful manufacturing expert in the industry, TSMC, but instead of taking advantage of it, they invest in a bunch of hardware and then learn manufacturing technology from scratch. By the time you start your career, you don’t know it will be the Year of the Monkey, and the market has already been divided up. What else will you do?
You don’t have to worry about buying an ARM architecture, and don’t mind that the Kirin chip is not manufactured by yourself. As long as the Kirin chip belongs to Huawei as a whole. Just like Apple's mobile phones, they produce very little, but make the most money, and no one cares that the chips they buy are licensed from ARM, not manufactured by themselves, and that the mobile phones are produced by Foxconn.
R&D and manufacturing are two different things. R&D is developed by Huawei based on ARM architecture; manufacturing is entrusted to Foxconn.
The research and development is based on the ARM architecture.
Some people say, does this technology come from ARM? This cannot be said, as ARM-based architecture is required on almost all mobile platforms. Of course, RISC is not just about ARM, but ARM occupies the vast majority of the market share, so even Apple's A-series chips, Samsung's Orion chips, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips all need to be based on ARM.
Of course, we still need to admit that others are more advanced and use their own modified architecture, so Huawei is also slowly using its own architecture.
Don’t think that it can be easily achieved based on ARM architecture. Look at how many companies that are engaged in ARM architecture have gone. Even if you are given an architecture, it is very particular about SoC construction, power consumption control, and other chip technologies. So you find that some companies develop chips, but after a few years, they soon stop developing them. This is really a waste of money.
Normally, we all think that R&D is the boss, and OEM has no technical content.
However, in fact, chip foundry is also very technical. The number of companies in the world that can OEM chips can be counted on ten fingers. Among them, the largest is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
Huawei’s chips are also manufactured by TSMC. After all, it is unrealistic to build our own factories. You have to know that Huawei has not made any achievements in chip production because it is not its main business. So Huawei outsourced its chip manufacturing.
Of course, not only Huawei, but even Apple turns to Foxconn for manufacturing, and all chips are handed over to TSMC.
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To understand the Kirin processor, you need to start from two aspects:
So, let’s understand what the ARM architecture is and why Huawei does not have the ability to produce it on its own?