Hisilicon Semiconductor Co., LTD., a wholly owned subsidiary of Huawei Technologies Co., LTD., has been focusing on integrated circuit (IC) design and research and development since its establishment in 2004. Its products are widely used in communication, smart devices, Internet of things and other fields, especially the Kirin chip series in the mobile terminal market unique. Kirin chip, as hisilicon's flagship product line, has become a strong competitor in the global smartphone market with its high performance, low power consumption and high integration. However, many people are not clear about the relationship between Hisilicon chips and Kirin chips, their respective characteristics and differences.

Hisilicon chip

Hisilicon chips are a series of integrated circuit products independently developed and designed by Hisilicon Semiconductor Co., LTD., a subsidiary of Huawei Technologies Co., LTD. Hisilicon is a top chip design company in China, and its products cover many fields:

1. Smartphone chip:

   • Kirin series: This is hisilicon's best-known chip line, designed for smartphones and tablets under the Huawei and Honor brands. The Kirin chip integrates high-performance central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), neural network processor (NPU), and advanced image signal processor (ISP), supporting advanced multimedia functions, high-speed data communication (such as 5G), and efficient power management. For example, Kirin 990, Kirin 9000 and other models were once one of the core competitiveness of Huawei's flagship mobile phones, using advanced manufacturing processes (such as 7nm) to provide powerful computing power and excellent energy efficiency performance.

2. Internet of Things (IoT) chips

   • Lingxi series: For iot application scenarios such as smart home, smart security and smart city, hisilicon has designed dedicated low-power, high-performance iot chips to provide wireless connectivity, edge computing and security functions.

3. TV and set-top box chips:

   • Honghu series: For smart TV, video conferencing system, professional display and other large screen equipment, hisilicon has launched a series of intelligent display chips, support ultra high-definition video decoding, image quality enhancement, AI scene recognition and other functions.

4. Server chip:

   • Kunpeng Series: For the data center and cloud computing markets, hisilicum has developed high-performance server processors based on the ARM architecture to provide computing solutions with high energy efficiency to support workloads such as big data analysis, artificial intelligence training and reasoning.

5. 5G communication chip:

   • Balong series: As Huawei's 5G baseband chip, Balong is responsible for providing cellular network connections for mobile devices, supporting multi-mode communication from 4G to 5G, and achieving high-speed and low-latency data transmission.

6. Other professional chips:

   • Hisilicon also designs specialized chips for video surveillance, in-vehicle entertainment systems, and digital broadcast receivers (DVB), providing highly integrated, customized solutions.

Despite Hisilicon's excellent performance in chip design and technical strength, since 2019, Hisilicon has encountered major challenges in chip manufacturing due to trade restrictions and sanctions imposed by the United States on Huawei. These restrictions prohibit Huawei and its affiliates, including hisilicon, from using U.S. technology, software and equipment for chip design and manufacturing unless specifically licensed. As a result, hisilicon has been severely hampered in obtaining contract manufacturing services for advanced manufacturing processes, especially for the production of the Kirin series of high-end smartphone chips. As a result, although hisilicon continues to work on chip design, the actual production and supply of some of its products has been severely affected.

Despite the difficulties, Huawei and hisilicon continue to invest in research and development, seeking breakthrough technologies and new supply chain cooperation models, in order to overcome the impact of sanctions in the future and resume normal chip production and supply. At the same time, hisilicon is also actively expanding non-American technology routes and domestic industrial chain cooperation to promote the development of the local semiconductor industry.

Kirin chip

Kirin chip is a system-level chip designed by Huawei hisilicon Semiconductor Co., Ltd. for high-end smart phones and mobile devices. Kirin chip is one of the core competitiveness of Huawei's own equipment, especially flagship smartphones, and has won significant recognition in the market for its advanced technology and excellent performance. Here are some key features and background information about Kirin chips:

Core technology and features:

1. Integrated design: Kirin chips integrate a variety of key components, including central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), neural network processor (NPU) for artificial intelligence tasks, digital signal processor (DSP), image signal processor (ISP) for camera processing, and modem (baseband chip) for mobile communications. Form highly integrated single-chip solutions that improve the overall performance and energy efficiency of your equipment.

2. High-performance CPU: Kirin chips usually use high-performance CPU cores authorized by the ARM architecture, such as the large core and energy efficiency core of the Cortex-A series, to achieve a balance between high performance and energy saving through the combination of large and small cores.

3. Advanced process: To improve performance and reduce power consumption, Kirin chips use industry-leading semiconductor manufacturing processes such as TSMC's 7 nanometer (nm) and even 5 nanometer process technology to achieve smaller transistor sizes and higher integration.

4. Graphics processing capability: Built-in self-developed or authorized Gpus, such as Mali series or Huawei's own GPU, to provide smooth graphics rendering and gaming experience.

5. AI acceleration: Equipped with a dedicated NPU (such as Huawei's self-developed Da Vinci architecture), greatly improve the processing speed of machine learning and artificial intelligence applications, optimize functions such as image recognition, voice assistant, intelligent photography and so on.

6. Image technology: Advanced ISP supports a variety of advanced photography functions such as high pixel camera, multi-camera collaboration, HDR shooting, night scene mode, video recording, etc., to improve the image quality and shooting experience of the mobile phone.

7. Communication technology: Integrated with Huawei's own Balong series baseband chip, it supports multi-mode and multi-band communication from 4G to 5G, providing high-speed and stable mobile network connection.

8. Security features: Hardware security technologies such as ARM TrustZone are used to strengthen data encryption, user authentication, privacy protection and other security functions to ensure the security of user information.

Development history and current situation:

• Early models: The development of Kirin chips began many years ago, and early models such as the Kirin 910 (released in 2014) marked Huawei's official entry into the smartphone SoC market.

• Market recognition: With the iterative upgrade of technology, Kirin chip has gradually caught up with international competitors in terms of performance, energy efficiency and communication capability, and has become one of the core selling points of Huawei's flagship mobile phones such as Mate series and P series.

• Technology leadership: The Kirin 990 series (especially Kirin 990 5G), as the world's first flagship SoC to integrate 5G baseband, demonstrates Huawei's leading position in chip integration technology.

• The impact of sanctions: Since the United States imposed sanctions on Huawei in 2019, the production of Kirin chips has been greatly limited because the sanctions prohibit Huawei from using equipment containing American technology to make chips. This caused high-end chips after the Kirin 9000 series to be unable to be mass-produced as planned.

• Market dynamics: Despite the manufacturing challenges, Huawei is still working on new Kirin chips, such as the rumored Kirin 9010, indicating that it has not given up on the chip design business. However, the timing and availability of the actual product depends on whether Huawei can find a manufacturing way around the sanctions, or whether the sanctions environment changes.

• Consumer expectations: Huawei consumers have high expectations for new mobile phones equipped with Kirin chips, such as the P70 series, reflecting market recognition of Huawei's self-developed chip technology and support for the Huawei brand.

The difference between Hisilicon chip and Kirin chip

1. Distinguish and connect

The main difference between Hisilicon chip and Kirin chip lies in product positioning and application field. Hisilicon chip represents the entire product line of Hisilicon, which is a broad concept. The Kirin chip is a specific product series of hisilicon focused on smart phone SOCs, which is a narrow concept. Nevertheless, the two share hisilicon's core technical resources, uphold the same technical concept, and reflect the same high-quality pursuit.

2. Homologous symbiosis, complement each other

Kirin chip as the star product of Hisilicon, its success not only benefits from Hisilicon's strong chip design capability, but also feeds Hisilicon's brand image and technical reputation. In turn, hisilicon's extensive chip layout also provides Kirin chips with rich technical reserves and industrial chain support, helping it to continue to innovate and maintain its market leading position.