TSMC is the most advanced chipmaker in the world. While Huawei designs its Kirin chips, it does not produce the chip. Huawei outsources its Kirin chip manufacturing to TSMC. According to the U.S. latest ban on Huawei, any company that uses American technology can not do business with Huawei without approval from the U.S. TSMC uses American technology in its manufacturing thus it is included. To this end, TSMC had until September 15 o conclude all business transactions with Huawei.
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After that, TSMC can no longer continue to manufacture Kirin processors. According to reports, Huawei’s Kirin orders with TSMC is up to 15 million chips. However, due to the production time constraints, the chip maker did not meet the target. The Taiwanese chipmaker was only able to deliver 8.8 million chips. However, there is no official confirmation from either Huawei or TSMC.
According to Huawei’s consumer business CEO, Yu Chengdong, the Kirin chip on Mate40 maybe Huawei’s last flagship chip. If there is no stop to the ban, there is no way Huawei can produce the Kirin 9000 processor.
The upstream supply chain also exposed the price of each piece of TSMC’s 5nm wafer. This process is indeed a lot more expensive than the 7nm process. The 12-inch wafer manufactured with TSMC’s 5nm counter is approximately $16,988, which is much higher than the 7nm cost of $9,346. However, the foundry price of a single chip is actually only $238. This is only $5 more expensive than the 7nm $233 price tag.
