Huawei says 381 τ chips designed and mass-produced across phones, AI and automotive sectors

On Oct 4, 2026, Huawei Executive Director and Terminal BG Chairman Yu Chengdong released a video saying that Huawei Semiconductor has designed and mass-produced 381 τ chips across smartphones, AI, general-purpose computing, networking, and intelligent vehicles.

The τ (tau) approach was first introduced by He Tingbo, president of Huawei's semiconductor business, at the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in May 2026. Yu explained that traditional chip performance gains rely on shrinking transistors, but as dimensions approach physical limits, Huawei is instead focusing on reducing time overhead by cutting data movement and wait time.

Huawei said its Tao (τ) law adopts "time (τ) scaling" in place of geometric scaling, using innovations such as LogicFolding to reduce signal propagation delay and increase transistor density. The company also described a multi-level optimization system spanning device, circuit, chip, and system levels, including the Lingqu bus interconnect protocol.

Huawei expects that by 2031, high-end chips based on the τ law will reach transistor density equivalent to that of a 1.4nm process.