Huawei's Kirin 980 SoC confirmed to get 7 nm treatment and new AI co-processor

The Kirin 980 will integrate a new AI co-processor and an improved GPU. (Source: Huawei)

The next gen Kirin 980 is being manufactured at TSMC's foundries and uses the 7 nm process. Huawei will also include a new AI chip from Cambricon and an improved GPU, so the upcoming Kirin 980 will surely battle it out with Samsung's Exynos 9820 and Apple's A12 SoCs. The latest HiSilicon chip is scheduled to be launched with the Mate 20 flagships later this year.

by Bogdan Solca, 2018/05/09

With TSMC rolling out all sorts of 7 nm chips throughout this year, the list of companies that are ordering processors built on the improved stepping is growing by the month. According to DigiTimes, Huawei and subsidiary HiSilicon are among the latest to announce the jump to the 7 nm stepping for their upcoming mobile processors. Thus, the next gen Kirin 980 mobile will be powering the future Mate flagships scheduled for a late 2018 launch. The new Kirin 980 will also come with an improved AI chip built by Cambricon.

As a general rule of thumb, the 7 nm processors are expected to deliver 20% improved performance and up to 40% increased power efficiency compared to the current 10 nm mobile processors. Back in early April, Huawei’s Mate 20 powered by a prototype Kirin 980 popped up on AnTuTu, and its benchmark scores seem to be in line with the general performance gains mentioned above.

Apart from integrating eight cores and increased frequencies, the Kirin 980 will also come with the 1M AI chip from Cambricon, which is said to bring improved imaging algorithms for the triple rear cam setup. Additionally, the GPU will see some improvements as well, so the Kirin 980 SoC will most likely be a serious competitor for Samsung’s Exynos 9820, Apple’s A12 and Qualcomm’s next gen Snapdragon SoCs.