Xiaomi is said to have designed its own 3nm chip

Xiaomi Inc, a Beijing-based smartphone maker, is said to have “taped out” its first 3 nanometer system-on-chip (SoC) processor, which is to be mass produced in the first half of 2025.

In the semiconductor industry tapeout is a term – left over from the days of reel-to-reel magnetic tape – for the much-awaited point in the development process when the final design data are stored and sent for fabrication.

The information about the success of Xiaomi’s 3nm chip was disclosed on October 20 by Tang Jianguo, chief economist of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, on Beijing Satellite TV.

Chinese media said that, if the news proved correct, Xiaomi’s achievement in chip-design would be a historic milestone for China as it would be the first 3nm chip designed by a Chinese firm.

There has been no information regarding the 3nm chipset’s central processing unit (CPU) cluster, graphic processing unit (GPU) or architecture.

A technology columnist using the pseudonym “Uncle Biao” says in an article published on Monday that it is likely that the new 3nm chip was jointly developed by Xiaomi and Taiwan’s MediaTek and will be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).

Wccftech.com, a United States-based IT gadget website, says it is possible that Xiaomi could be sanctioned by the United States due to its breakthrough in designing 3nm chips.

The article says that if Xiaomi has successfully reached the tapeout status for its 3nm chipset, it means that other Chinese firms, including the sanctioned Huawei Technologies, can also use this processor in their devices.

Wccftech.com reported in August that Xiaomi might launch a system-on-chip processor in the first half of 2025, the chip to be mass