Not completely back yet. Baby steps.
Huawei announced a new chip for the first time since 2020 (not counting the new Kirin chip inside the Mate 60 series) though it’s not intended for smartphones. It’s intended for the company’s long line of wearable products including the Watch series and the FreeBuds series.
The first Kirin A-series chip was released in 2019, the same year during the ban. However, at the time, they were allowed to manufacture new chips under TSMC. With the A2, it’s a different story. Though the company did not say what fabrication did the A2 comes from, we can guess it’s from SMIC, the same company that manufactured the Kirin 9000S series. The first product to use the new chip is the FreeBuds Pro 3.
We don’t have further details about the new chip except that it’s made for consumers. So, this chip is like a test run to see if Huawei can bring back the famed HiSilicon brand to the global stage, competing with big names like Qualcomm and MediaTek once again.
Source: Huawei Central Newsroom (not affiliated with Huawei or Huawei Newsroom)