Huawei is rumored to have plans to build a chip factory in Shanghai, with which it wants to produce its own chips. The factory should make 28nm chips by the end of next year, followed by 20nm chips in late 2022.
According to rumors, the chip factory that Huawei wants to build would initially experiment with 45nm chips, but then quickly scale up to 28nm and 20nm nodes. Those chip processes are not suitable for making smartphone processors. For example, Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC makes Huaweis Kirin socs at 7nm. Huawei could, for example, produce chips for 5G equipment.
The Shanghai IC R&D Center would be responsible for the chip factory, the Financial Times writes, after the Chinese newspaper Caixin published about the project last month. The intention is that no American chip technology is used in the production. It would guarantee Huawei that it can continue to make and supply network equipment.
The current US sanctions are causing major problems for Huawei; Suppliers are not allowed to supply chips to the Chinese company if US technology has been used in the production. There are indications that the Americans are relaxing the sanctions.
Shanghai Research Center Shanghai