Huawei introduces Kirin 980 7nm SoC with AI capabilities

Huawei has introduced industry’s first commercial 7nm SoC, the Kirin 980 equipped with AI capabilities which will offer best-in-class performance, efficiency, connectivity features, and Dual NPU AI processing power. The world’s first 5G ready chipset is manufactured with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturer Company’s (TSMC) that enables quicker app launch times, better multitasking and a smoother user experience.

The new TSMC 7nm process technology enables Kirin 980 to pack 6.9 billion transistors within a 1cm² die size, 1.6 times of the previous generation. Compared to the 10nm process, the 7nm process delivers 20 percent improved SoC performance and 40 percent improved SoC power efficiency. The Kirin 980 is also the first SoC to embed Cortex-A76 based cores, which are 75% more powerful and 58% more efficient compared to their previous generation. The Kirin CPU subsystem uses an intelligent Flex-scheduling mechanism that creates a 3-level energy efficiency architecture consisting of two super-big cores based on Cortex-A76, two big cores based on Cortex-A76, and four little cores Cortex-A55. Compared with the traditional big.LITTLE design, this solution designates the large high-performance cores to handle immediate, intensive workloads; the large, high-efficiency cores to provide sustained performance; and ultra-efficiency cores to tackle every day, light activities with extreme power efficiency. Running at higher clock speeds compared to the prior generation, Kirin 980 enables quicker app launch times, better multi-tasking and a generally smoother user experience. Huawei has integrated the Mali-G76 GPU into the Kirin 980, Mali-G76 offers 46% greater graphics processing power at 178% improved power efficiency over the previous generation. Mali-G76 also features an innovative clock boosting technology that utilizes AI to intelligently identify gaming workloads and adjust resource allocation for optimal gaming performance. The Dual NPU Kirin 980 elevates the On-Device AI experience with greater processing power and intelligence. The synergy between the Dual NPU results in an image recognition capability that is greater than the sum of two—the Kirin 980 can recognize up to 4,600 images per minute, up 120% compared to Kirin 970.

Also, Kirin 980 supports common AI frameworks such as Caffee, Tensorflow and Tensorflow Lite, and provides a suite of tools that simplify the difficulty of engineering On-Device AI, allowing developers to easily tap into the leading processing power of the Dual NPU. The Kirin 980 utilizes the Multi-pass noise reduction solution that accurately removes artifacts without scrubbing away image details, resulting in better quality on images taken in low-light scenarios. Another new feature of the ISP is improved motion tracking. When a user attempts to snap a photo of a moving person, the ISP can still recognize the subject with 97.4 percent accuracy so any user can capture fleeting moments with ease.

One the connectivity front, to deliver the best possible connectivity to users of Kirin 980-powered devices, Huawei integrated the world’s first modem supporting LTE Cat.21 with a peak download speed of 1.4Gbps. Further, the Kirin 980 supports carrier aggregation, even across frequency bands. The first smartphone to come with the latest SoC will be the upcoming flagship smartphones, Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro which will be unveiled in October. Follow us on Twitter for more news and updates.