Huawei launches 7nm-class Kirin X90 HarmonyOS enterprise desktops

By Tom Whitfield

TechInsights found that SMIC makes Huawei's 10-core, 20-thread Kirin X90 on a 7nm-class N+2 process. Huawei has now placed the chip in its first HarmonyOS desktop PCs, the Qingyun HM650 for enterprises and the HM650g for government buyers.

Huawei unveiled both systems on Nov. 5 at a HarmonyOS office-industry event. The company has not announced a price, so the commercial scale of the launch remains undefined.

What hardware does the Kirin X90 bring?

The Kirin X90 first appeared in Huawei's consumer laptops in 2025. This desktop version combines 10 Huawei-designed Armv8 TaiShan cores in a 4+4+2 layout. All 10 support simultaneous multithreading, producing 20 threads.

Huawei also includes a Maleoon GPU and a neural processing unit for AI workloads. The company rates the chip at 40 watts, below the 65 to 125 watts typical of desktop processors.

The HM650 ships with 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and either a 256GB or 512GB SSD. Its disclosed baseline is therefore 40 watts, 16GB of memory and two storage options, with the price still missing.

How much of the supply chain is Chinese?

Huawei says the desktops use “100% Chinese components,” naming the processor, memory, storage, power supply and wireless connectivity parts as made in China. The statement covers the principal hardware categories, but the company does not disclose how the Kirin X90 itself is made.

The teardown supplies that manufacturing detail for the processor. SMIC produces the chip on its 7nm-class N+2 process, which trails the leading nodes at Intel, TSMC and Samsung. The finding places Huawei's own processor behind the most advanced foundry processes rather than alongside them.

Tom's Hardware, which first reported the system for English-language readers through the South China Morning Post, said the memory and flash are probably from CXMT and YMTC. It also said the certification for Chinese-made components does not cover the supply chain behind the chips.

That distinction matters because Chinese fabs still run on production equipment from the Netherlands, the United States and Japan. They also use Japanese materials, UK-licensed Arm architecture and largely American chip-design software.

Huawei's claim concerns the origin of the finished components. It does not establish that the tools, materials, intellectual property or software used to manufacture the processor are Chinese.

The computers therefore have a wider domestic component base than the processor supply chain itself. That is a different claim from complete independence, and the distinction could affect how enterprises assess their long-term supply exposure.

What changes with HarmonyOS Enterprise Edition?

The desktops run HarmonyOS Enterprise Edition and replace Microsoft Windows entirely. Unlike earlier HarmonyOS versions that used Linux components, the enterprise release uses Huawei's own kernel. That design gives the company direct control over system updates and security.

The hardware includes a dedicated key for Huawei's Celia assistant and separate personal and enterprise workspaces. These features extend Huawei's control of the software environment into the physical configuration of each desktop.

For enterprise buyers, the practical limit is compatibility with applications built for Windows. Buyers whose operations depend on those applications may face more friction than the processor's power rating suggests.

Huawei therefore controls the update and security path more completely than on earlier HarmonyOS systems. The trade-off is that existing Windows workflows remain a constraint on adoption.

What will determine adoption?

With no price announced, the HM650 and HM650g have no disclosed commercial terms for enterprise or government buyers. Huawei has also published no production-capacity figure, leaving the scale of any rollout uncertain.

The launch leaves three commercial variables unresolved: the price of each system, support for Windows applications and the production capacity behind the rollout. The pace of enterprise and government adoption will therefore turn on those three factors.