China's Huawei Technologies expects to design high-end chips by 2031 with transistor density equivalent to 1.4-nanometre processes, despite U.S. sanctions that have made it hard for China to build the world's most advanced chips.

The projection, made by Huawei on Monday in a statement, was the most eye-catching ⁠claim of what the company calls the Tau Scaling Law, a new principle for improving chips as the industry can no longer rely mainly on making transistors smaller.