Is SMIC N+3's Metal Pitch Smaller than Intel 18A's?
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- Aug 2, 2026
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A SemiAnalysis teardown of Huawei's Kirin 9030 (SMIC N+3) compares it against TSMC N6 (via a MediaTek Helio G99) and Intel's 18A, finding that SMIC matches TSMC N6-class logic density only through aggressive DUV multi-patterning and DTCO rather than EUV, at the cost of process maturity and cost efficiency. The report details die floorplans, CPU/GPU/NPU architecture changes versus the Kirin 9020, memory (Samsung and CXMT LPDDR5X) and iPoP packaging, showing Huawei's silicon closing some gaps under export controls while still trailing leading-edge Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek chips in performance and efficiency.
Why it made the leaderboard
For engineers tracking global AI compute capacity and export-control impacts, this gives concrete, image-backed evidence of how close SMIC's DUV-based N+3 process actually comes to TSMC/Intel leading-edge nodes — intelligence that shapes expectations about future AI chip supply from China.
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Indexed by a proprietary survey. Corrections welcome.