Qualcomm has agreed to license patents behind Huawei’s LogicFolding chipmaking architecture as part of a multiyear cross-license agreement between the two companies. The deal covers technologies related to 5G devices, AI services, near- and co-packaged optics, and networks, according to a Huawei spokesperson on Monday.
The agreement validates Huawei’s push to develop an alternative path in semiconductor design. LogicFolding uses 3D wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding to stack two full wafers face-to-face with ultra-high-density interconnects at a 1.5-micron pitch. Instead of chasing smaller transistors through traditional node shrinks, the architecture optimizes for communication time between chip elements using what Huawei calls the “Tau Scaling Law.”
Huawei’s semiconductor chief He Tingbo first presented LogicFolding at the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Shanghai on May 27, 2026. In a follow-up paper published on July 5, He disclosed mass production test data showing a 55% increase in transistor density. Also, a 41% improvement in power efficiency. The architecture achieves a target density of 295 million transistors per square millimeter, which Huawei says competes with TSMC’s 14A node.
The first commercial chip to use LogicFolding will launch this fall. The Kirin 2026, built for the Huawei Mate 90 series, runs at 3.1 GHz on a reduced operating voltage of 0.9V. Huawei claims the chip delivers a 38% GPU improvement and a 140% NPU gain over the 2025 baseline. The company’s roadmap projects reaching 4.0 GHz by the Kirin 2029 generation.
Huawei developed LogicFolding partly to work around US export restrictions that block its access to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. The chips use SMIC’s N+3 process, which relies on older deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography. By stacking logic layers vertically instead of shrinking them horizontally, Huawei claims it can match the performance of chips made with more advanced equipment.
For Qualcomm, the cross-license secures access to Huawei’s growing patent portfolio in 3D chip stacking. Huawei, meanwhile, gains further industry validation and revenue from its architecture as it pushes into overseas AI markets.
