Moore’s Law has been obsolete for years. Although chips are still getting faster, this is only partly due to the fact that the processes used to build them are shrinking. Greater computing density requires more than just ever-smaller semiconductors. According to Huawei, we need to look to light, and with it, a successor to Moore’s Law: Tau’s Law.
Tau’s Law, where Tau (τ) stands for time. According to Huawei, there is still plenty of Tau—and thus time—to be gained within a chip. Communication delays within a processor still offer plenty of room for chipmakers to achieve higher throughput speeds—and thus performance gains. This requires the application of LogicFolding, the name Huawei uses for a series of efficiency improvements both within and outside the chips it produces.
A detour to faster chips
LogicFolding is a mix of improvements to chip design and the design of the device in which this processor is located. Think of reducing the resistance and parasitic capacitance of semiconductors, regardless of where they are located within a device. Because the digital world of computers is, in theory, completely binary but must, in practice, comply with the laws of nature, there is always some margin in the measurement and transmission of a 1 or a 0. Optimization in that area is where Huawei sees the performance gains of the future happening.
The Chinese company emphasizes that it cannot make this progress alone. Although it claims to have already produced 381 chips based on Tau’s law, LogicFolding will not be implemented in the mobile Kirin chips of Huawei phones until later this year. By 2031, Huawei expects the Tau law to bring the company to a quality equivalent of the current 14A process. 14A is still in its infancy at Intel, which is using ASML’s High-NA EUV machines for this purpose for the first time.
That target (2031 and 14A) is therefore no coincidence. U.S. sanctions prevent Huawei from accessing advanced EUV lithography machines, which are necessary for modern processes. This made an alternative route necessary for the Chinese company. An ASML alternative is also currently under development in China, though there are widespread doubts about its actual performance and the expected delivery of the first machine.
Read also: Calls for a ‘Chinese ASML’ are growing louder, but it’s still a long way off
LogicFolding as a practical implementation
Huawei claims a 55 percent increase in transistor density and a 41 percent improvement in efficiency compared to a conventional approach—and thus without EUV machines. The Tau Law is complemented by other breakthroughs. For example, Huawei previously unveiled its own HBM memory for its Ascend AI chips, also intended to increase independence from Western suppliers.