He Tingbo, a member of Huawei's board of directors, has recently published a third signed paper on 'Tao's (τ) Law,' aiming to address external skepticism concerning the heat dissipation challenges linked to the τ-scaling law. Earlier, He Tingbo introduced 'Tao's (τ) Law' and shared relevant research papers. Huawei's forthcoming Mate90 series smartphones are anticipated to be powered by the Kirin 2026 chipset, which is designed based on this law. This chipset marks the debut of LogicFolding technology in a mobile system-level chip, boasting a 55% surge in transistor density, up to a 66% drop in power consumption for critical tasks, and cooler operating temperatures.

The paper details how LogicFolding technology stacks circuits vertically through three-dimensional hybrid bonding, thereby minimizing signal transmission distances. The Kirin 2026 achieves a 1.5-micron hybrid bonding pitch and incorporates 50 million vertical interconnects, while its successor, the Kirin 2027, pushes the envelope further with a 1-micron pitch and over 100 million vertical interconnects. Within the next three years, the technology is projected to attain a 720-nanometer pitch and exceed 200 million vertical interconnects.

The paper highlights that a chip's power consumption is predominantly driven by signal movement rather than computation itself. LogicFolding technology diminishes data movement power consumption by shortening signal transmission paths, thus lowering power density. Under equivalent performance conditions, the various modules of the Kirin 2026 exhibit significantly reduced power consumption, along with notable performance enhancements when operating at full capacity. Furthermore, the chipset can further refine power consumption through hardware-software co-design. Simultaneously, by reducing thermal density and optimizing layout, junction temperature can be effectively controlled to prevent hotspot issues.

The paper underscores that the τ-scaling law is a time-scaling principle that necessitates exploiting time margins through engineering rigor to curtail power consumption. Looking ahead, LogicFolding technology is poised to propel the Kirin CPU core frequency to 5GHz and beyond. Progress in the industry hinges on continual iteration and refinement.