Although seen as a considerable technical achievement to make the chip without EUV tools, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, told CBS News: “What it tells me is the export controls are working because that chip is not nearly as good. … it’s years behind what we have in the United States,”

TechInsights says it “found evidence of SMIC 7nm (N+2) which represents a made-in-China design and manufacturing milestone for the most advanced Chinese foundry TechInsights has documented. Some of the highlights include:

“The Kirin 9000s die measured 107 mm2, which is 2% larger than the Kirin 9000 (105 mm2). From various identifying features on the die, the team concluded the processor is manufactured by SMIC.

“Initial lab results indicated that this die is more advanced than SMIC’s 14nm process node but presents larger critical dimensions (CDs) than what TechInsights has observed for 5nm process.

“Additional measurements of critical dimensions (CDs) on the die, including logic gate pitch, fin pitch and lower back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallisation pitches, the analyst team concluded the die has 7nm features.”