This projection, shared by Huawei on Monday, is the most striking assertion associated with what the company refers to as the Tau Scaling Law, a new principle for enhancing chips as the industry moves beyond just miniaturizing transistors.
During a keynote presentation titled “New Semiconductor Path in Practice” at the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Shanghai, He Tingbo, president of Huawei’s semiconductor division and director of its Scientist Committee, outlined this innovative concept, according to the company.
While Huawei did not release independent performance metrics, achieving 1.4 nm is a notable target, as it is anticipated to align closely with the global cutting-edge in advanced chip manufacturing by the decade’s end.
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It is generally believed that China is unlikely to achieve this milestone through traditional manufacturing methods alone, due to restrictions imposed by Washington on access to advanced lithography tools and other essential semiconductor technologies.
The Tau Scaling Law emphasizes reducing the time it takes for signals and data to traverse chips and computing systems, according to Huawei. If successful, it could provide a pathway for enhancing performance and chip density, even amid limitations on China’s access to the latest semiconductor machinery.
Huawei announced that its Kirin chips, expected to debut in the fall of 2026, will be the first to incorporate a related architecture known as LogicFolding, which the company claims will streamline wiring within chips and significantly enhance performance.
Over the past six years, Huawei stated that it has designed and mass-produced 381 chips based on the Tau Scaling Law for various sectors, including smartphones and AI computing.
