Huawei held a Kirin media briefing at its Lianqiu Lake R&D center in Shanghai on October 13, the first chip-level technical briefing the company has held for Kirin in six years, according to Yicai. Xu Songyu, head of wireless terminal chip product management in Huawei's semiconductor business, used the event to publish a detailed architecture diagram of the Kirin 9050 Pro for the first time. Only a simplified version had been shown at the chip's launch.
The diagram lays out the blocks that work together on the chip: a new-generation CPU, a new-generation Maleoon GPU, an NPU based on the new Da Vinci architecture, a new Kirin AI ISP, a Balong AI modem, an audio and video processor, a security processor, a dedicated microcore, and an FFTS function-flow task scheduler that coordinates work across the units.
Xu also gave two new performance figures. He said the Maleoon GPU in the Kirin 9050 Pro delivers 40% higher performance than its predecessor, and that the chip carries what Huawei calls the industry's first 200-megapixel fusion ISP.
Huawei also disclosed an official shipment figure for the first time. Since Kirin chips returned to consumer products in August 2023, devices built on Kirin have shipped more than 100 million units in total, across the Mate, Pura, nova and Enjoy lines. Huawei described the Kirin 9050 series as an important step in the chip family's continued evolution after that return.
Looking ahead, Xu said the next-generation Kirin 2027 chip is ready and that all test results so far are in line with expectations, which he said makes the LogicFolding approach sustainable for the next ten years. Which technologies will be used at each stage still needs to be worked out step by step. Asked whether LogicFolding will reach mid-range and entry-level phones, he said that depends on future product needs.
Xu was candid about the early uncertainty. When Huawei began exploring LogicFolding, he said, no one in the industry had done it, and there were no tools or established methods, so it was unclear whether it would deliver gains or reach high-yield mass production.
He listed five challenges still facing the Tau path: toolchains and methodology, compensation for process variation, optimizing the overhead of cross-layer interconnects, energy consumption control, and benchmarking methods. Xu called for support from industry and academia, saying the future belongs to open cooperation and that no single company can answer every question alone.
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