SMIC's third-gen 7nm node shows smaller metal pitch than Intel 18A
SMIC's N+3 7nm technology achieves smaller metal pitch than Intel 18A but lacks in performance.
An analysis of Huawei's Kirin 9030 SoC reveals that SMIC's third-gen 7nm technology achieves a smaller metal pitch than Intel's 18A and matches TSMC's N6 in transistor density without EUV. However, this does not make SMIC's N+3 competitive with Intel's 18A or TSMC's N2 and N3. While SMIC has made progress in density, the Kirin 9030 lags in performance and energy efficiency compared to leading chip designs.