Huawei's 'Chip Queen' Throws Down the Gauntlet

Huawei’s HiSilicon says it has developed Tau’s Scaling Law to optimize semiconductors by speeding computations across chips, circuits, and entire computing systems rather than increasing transistor density on a single silicon die. The company’s president, Tingbo He, says the approach will close the performance gap between Chinese and Western chips over the next few years and promises proof of viability within months, with a major leap before winter 2026. Huawei faces US export controls that restrict work with TSMC and force reliance on China’s SMIC, which uses older lithography equipment. The restrictions also limit China’s ability to develop frontier AI using domestic silicon, estimated to be more than five years behind leading chips. Moore’s Law progress is increasingly constrained as transistor scaling reaches practical limits.

"“We found a new path,” He said at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Shanghai last weekend. He, who is known in China as Huawei's “chip queen,” promised that the company would prove the viability of the new approach, presumably with a new chip, in the coming months. “Before winter 2026, we will bring the surprise,” He said. “Not saturation, not continuation, but a big leap ahead.”"

"Huawei's method, in short, focuses on speeding up computations across chips, circuits, and entire computing systems, rather than squeezing ever-more components onto a single piece of silicon. The chip queen calls the new approach Tau's Scaling Law, and says it has replaced Moore's Law as HiSilicon's guiding principle. Moore's Law, named for the Intel cofounder Gordon Moore, dictates that progress in computing depends on roughly doubling the number of transistors, or logic gates, packed into a chip every two years."

"Minting cutting-edge chips currently involves etching components into silicon using billion-dollar lithographic equipment, a supply chain of exquisitely delicate components, and extensive engineering know-how. US export controls prohibit Huawei from working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's leading chip foundry. Huawei must instead rely on China's SMIC, which uses an older generation of lithography machines. Crucially, restrictions limit China's ability to develop frontier artificial intelligence using its own silicon."

"But the chip industry has begun running into the limits of Moore's Law. When transistors are just"

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