A Huawei patent suggests a way to produce 2nm chips using older DUV lithography technology.

ASML, a Dutch company, is the sole manufacturer of EUV lithography machines needed for producing chips at 7nm and below. While ASML can still sell DUV lithography machines to Chinese companies, these are not as effective for creating advanced chips. SMIC, China's largest chipmaker, utilizes a technique called multi-patterning, using DUV machines to print circuit patterns multiple times. In contrast, a more advanced EUV machine would only require a single pass.

However, multi-patterning can lead to lower yields and increased production costs due to pattern alignment issues. SMIC is believed to have employed multi-patterning in the creation of the Kirin 9030 AP, using its N+3 process. This chip, which powers the new Huawei Mate 80 Pro Max, is said to offer performance comparable to a 5nm chip.

Huawei may be able to improve its chip manufacturing capabilities. A patent filed in 2022 could enable the company to achieve patterning similar to a 2nm process without needing EUV machines. According to the South China Morning Post, Huawei is seeking a patent for a chip manufacturing method utilizing metal integration. This would allow the use of DUV machines to integrate metal structures, potentially leading to chips with performance equivalent to a 2nm process, even without EUV technology.

An expert in China's chip industry suggests that combining metal integration, advanced memory, and unique architecture, a 14nm logic chip could match the performance of Nvidia's 4nm GPUs for AI. Huawei's patent application from 2022 is still pending approval and was announced in January by China’s national intellectual property regulator. However, the report notes that there is currently no evidence that this patent has been used in chip manufacturing.