The quest to mass manufacture its first ARM-based PC chipset has been met with various obstacles, but Huawei appears to have made meaningful progress in this area as it looks to reduce dependency on companies like Intel and Microsoft by delivering its first in-house solution for a multitude of products. Previously, we reported that the company’s custom SoC would feature Kunpeng-920 cores and tout DeepSeek integration. According to the latest leak, the silicon will be called the X90, with no information about its potential launch or specifications.
No word on which manufacturing process Huawei’s X90 will take advantage of either, but the U.S. sanctions likely mean the company will have little choice but to use SMIC’s 7nm technology
The first ARM-based PC chipset was supposed to debut sometime last year, with an updated rumor claiming that the X90 would be unveiled in the first quarter of 2025. Thanks to @Jukanlosreve, who shared an image showing various silicon that Huawei has been working on, the last one immediately piqued our interest because it would mean the first time that the Chinese firm would embrace such a solution for a majority of its products. Unfortunately, with the U.S. trade sanctions breathing down on Huawei’s neck, it has no direct access to cutting-edge technology.
This may explain why the Kirin 9020, which is used in the Mate 70 family, continues to rely on SMIC’s 7nm process, which also gives weight to the report that China is aggressively pursuing the development and full-scale production of EUV machinery so it is not tied down by ASML, a Dutch-based firm that is also under the influence of the U.S. However, assuming that the X90 will launch sometime this quarter, Huawei will have little choice but to stick with SMIC’s 7nm lithography, meaning that the actual X90 might be slower than Apple’s recent M4 lineup or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite or Snapdragon X Plus.
Hmm? Huawei’s ARM PC chip is called the Kirin X90. It seems different from what you mentioned. @tphuang pic.twitter.com/pDAupx38Gq
— Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) March 15, 2025
What Huawei can leverage is its HarmonyOS NEXT, which seemingly utilizes fewer system resources than Android, hinting that even with the X90’s limited processing prowess, desktops, and laptops powered by the Chinese firm’s in-house operating system should operate smoothly. The company is also said to adopt a unified RAM architecture, much like what Apple has done with its M-series. This approach will mean that customers cannot upgrade the memory on whichever machine sports the X90, but it will boost bandwidth and lead to a more efficient solution. We will keep our fingers crossed for any development and update our readers on the latest, so stay tuned.
News Source: @Jukanlosreve
