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Current Affairs

Out of the shadows: Huawei’s ‘chip queen’ steps back into the spotlight with scaling law

After seven years working in the shadows, He Tingbo stepped back into the limelight last month.
The head of Huawei Technologies’ secretive semiconductor business – widely…

By Samantha Johnson / June 13, 2026
After seven years working in the shadows, He Tingbo stepped back into the limelight last month.

The head of Huawei Technologies’ secretive semiconductor business – widely dubbed the company’s “chip queen” – had been out of the public view since 2019, when Washington severed the Chinese company’s global access to advanced technology, including semiconductors.

Her retreat into the background became a symbol of Huawei’s battle for survival. That all changed last month on a global academic stage in Shanghai – the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

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It was there that He introduced the “Tau (τ) Scaling Law”, which Huawei claimed could achieve transistor densities equivalent to the cutting-edge 1.4-nanometre process by 2031 – all without the need for advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines out of reach due to US sanctions.

The announcement ignited a debate across the global semiconductor industry: Had Huawei truly unlocked a revolutionary chapter for China’s drive towards tech self-reliance, or was it just an ambitious theory, or even hype, destined to stumble when it came to the realities of manufacturing?
He Tingbo, head of Huawei’s secretive semiconductor business, has been out of public view since 2019. Photo: Handout
He Tingbo, head of Huawei’s secretive semiconductor business, has been out of public view since 2019. Photo: Handout

Redefining ‘advanced’

For half a century, the electronics industry treated Moore’s Law – the principle that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years – as gospel. But as silicon structures approached atomic limits, geometric scaling was yielding diminishing economic returns and hitting an architectural brick wall.

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