Honor recently released the Honor Play 4T series of phones, of which Play 4T only costs 1,199 yuan, and it uses the Kirin 710A processor.
This processor is based on the 12nm Kirin 710 released in 2018, but the Kirin 710A is said to use the 14nm process from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), according to Mydrivers.com.
The Kirin 710 processor was launched in July 2018 and was first used on the Huawei Nova 3i mobile phone.
It uses a 12nm process, uses four A73 2.2GHz + four A53 1.7GHz octa-core designs, supports LTE Cat.12/13, and dual card dual 4G dual VoLTE.
Kirin 710 had a derivative version of Kirin 710F in the Play 3 series last year. The specifications have not changed, but the packaging factory has changed. It is rumored to be packaged by China-based JCET Group.
The Kirin 710A used by Play 4T this time is also very mysterious, and Huawei Hisilicon has not disclosed its specific information.
There have been comments that it is still produced by TSMC's 12nm process, but the latest news claims that it uses the 14nm FinFET process of SMIC, the largest domestic foundry.
SMIC's 14nm process is the same generation as TSMC's 16nm process, and 12nm is an improvement on TSMC's 16nm process. Considering TSMC's experience and ability in process technology, SMIC's 14nm production Kirin 710A has other Inferior, its CPU frequency dropped from 2.2GHz to 2.0GHz.
But SMIC's production of 14nm Kirin 710A is of great significance. From packaging to wafer foundry, Huawei is obviously transferring the core CPU production and manufacturing supply chain to domestic companies step by step.
Although performance or capacity problems are encountered now, it is extremely necessary to ensure supply chain safety in the long run, Mydrivers.com reports.
SMIC is also vigorously building 14nm production capacity. In 2020, the production capacity of 14nm and improved 12nm process will increase significantly, from the previous 1000 wafers/month to 4K capacity in March. In July, the capacity will reach 9K wafers/In December, the end of December reached 15K wafers/month.
If it is confirmed that the Kirin 710A is manufactured by SMIC, it is better to understand the reason why SMIC announced a sharp increase in the Q1 quarterly revenue guidance not long ago.
