Xiaomi's in-house 3 nm smartphone SoC chip successfully tapes out

Rumours about Xiaomi's first-ever in-house smartphone SoC resurfaced earlier this year. It would perform on par with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and manufactured on TSMC's N4P node. However, that chip might be an entirely different SKU, as a report from MyDrivers now talks about a 3 nm smartphone AP from Xiaomi. Apparently, it has taped out on an unspecified 3 nm node.

While not mentioned explicitly, it is rumoured to be a TSMC node, likely N3E. A tape-out now indicates it could be ready for launch next year. Unfortunately, that's all the info we have about it now. Details such as its CPU core layout, choice of CPU cores, GPU, etc should ideally surface once its launch approaches.

Given it is a first generation product, it will likely stick with stock Arm cores and a Mali GPU, but the 5G modem apparently comes from UNISOC. Given its less-than-ideal performance, there's a good chance Xiaomi might use it in a tablet or mid-range smartphone instead of a top-spec offerings like the Xiaomi 16.