China Microchip Design: Huawei HiSilicon, Unisoc, and Fabless Ecosystem
China's microchip design (fabless IC) industry has become one of the world's largest, with over 3,400 fabless companies generating 600 billion RMB in revenue. Huawei's HiSilicon leads with its Kirin smartphone processors and Ascend AI chips, while Unisoc provides budget mobile chipsets for the global market. The US sanctions on HiSilicon (Entity List since 2019) forced a fundamental restructuring of China's chip design ecosystem, accelerating domestic IP core development and alternative supply chains.
TL;DR
China's IC design industry reached 600B RMB with 3,400+ fabless companies. Huawei HiSilicon produced Kirin 9100 on SMIC 5nm. Unisoc shipped 800M mobile chipsets. Loongson shipped 2M domestic MIPS-based CPUs. 30% of chip design EDA tools are now domestically sourced.
Key Insights
IC Design Revenue
China's fabless IC design industry reached 600 billion RMB, growing 18% annually. Over 3,400 fabless companies operate in China, concentrated in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. The top 10 companies account for 50% of total revenue, with Huawei HiSilicon leading.
Huawei HiSilicon
Huawei's HiSilicon designed the Kirin 9100 processor, manufactured on SMIC's 5nm DUV process for the Mate 70 smartphone. Despite being approximately 2-3 years behind TSMC's leading edge, the chip powers a competitive flagship experience. HiSilicon also designs Ascend AI chips for data centers.
Unisoc Mobile
Unisoc (Spreadtrum) shipped approximately 800 million mobile chipset units in 2025, primarily for budget and mid-range smartphones. Unisoc's Tiger T770 and T820 compete with MediaTek's Dimensity series in the 100-300 USD price segment. Unisoc holds 15% of global mobile chipset market share.
Domestic EDA Progress
Chinese EDA companies (Empyrean Technology, Primarius, Synopsys China JV) now supply approximately 30% of domestic chip design tool needs, up from 15% two years ago. Domestic EDA tools cover analog/mixed-signal design and DFT, though digital implementation and signoff remain dependent on Cadence and Synopsys.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Company | Segment | Key Products | Annual Revenue (B RMB) | Technology Node |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HiSilicon (Huawei) | Mobile + AI | Kirin 9100, Ascend 910C | 100+ | 5nm (SMIC) |
| Unisoc | Mobile | T770, T820, T750 | 30 | 6nm (TSMC) |
| Will Semiconductor (OmniVision) | CIS | Image sensors | 25 | Leading CIS |
| Loongson | CPU | Loongson 3A6000 | 5 | Domestic MIPS |
| Cambricon | AI chip | MLU370 | 3 | 7nm (TSMC) |
| Biren Technology | GPU | BR100 | 2 | 7nm (TSMC, sanctioned) |
| Montage Tech | Smart home | MCU, WiFi chips | 8 | 40-28nm |
| Goodix | Fingerprint/bio | Fingerprint sensors | 5 | Various |
Frequently Asked Questions
China's chip design industry faces significant challenges without TSMC access but is adapting through multiple strategies: for leading-edge designs, companies like HiSilicon now rely on SMIC's 5nm DUV process, which is 2-3 generations behind TSMC's 3nm but is improving rapidly; Huawei demonstrated that a well-designed chip on a mature process can still power a competitive smartphone, as the Kirin 9100 on SMIC 5nm enables Mate 70 to compete with premium phones using TSMC 4nm chips; for mid-range and budget designs, companies like Unisoc continue using TSMC for 6nm and mature nodes (Unisoc is not on the Entity List), providing a pathway for mass-market chips; domestic foundry alternatives include SMIC (5nm DUV, expanding to 3nm), Hua Hong (28-55nm for IoT and power), and Nexchip (40-28nm for display drivers); and China's strategy is to accept a performance gap at the leading edge while building complete domestic supply chains that eliminate dependency on potentially-sanctionable foreign foundries. The practical assessment is that China can sustain a viable chip design industry at the mid-range and IoT levels using domestic foundries, while leading-edge performance will remain constrained until SMIC closes the gap with TSMC, which most analysts estimate will take 3-5 years for 3nm-equivalent production.