Huawei Technologies is leveling up its AI chip game, positioning itself as a key competitor to Nvidia in China.
With the introduction of its Ascend 910C chips, Huawei is testing the waters by offering these powerful processors to Chinese firms eager to reduce their dependency on US-based Nvidia. The company has reportedly begun supplying these chips to potential clients, particularly those seeking alternatives to Nvidia after the US banned the sale of Nvidia’s top-tier A100 and H100 chips to Chinese customers. This move by Washington has fueled a push among Chinese tech firms to develop self-reliant semiconductor solutions, and Huawei seems to be capitalizing on this shift.
Building on the success of its previous model, the Ascend 910B, Huawei claims the performance of the new Ascend 910C is comparable to Nvidia’s H100 chips. According to the company, its Ascend series has already played a key role in training the majority of China’s leading large language models (LLMs).
In a recent statement, Huawei emphasized the Ascend 910C’s potential, suggesting it could rival Nvidia’s high-performance chips, which have been pivotal in the AI sector. “Huawei has claimed that the Ascend 910C chips can rival Nvidia’s H100 chips,” according to reports.
The Chinese company has maintained secrecy about its chip development process, but its aggressive push into the market demonstrates its ambition to capture a larger share of the Chinese semiconductor industry.
Nvidia, once dominant in the Chinese chip market, has been hit hard by US sanctions. To bypass restrictions on its A100 and H100 GPUs, Nvidia introduced alternative models like the A800 and H800, but even these were later restricted by Washington. These sanctions have driven up demand for Nvidia’s chips, which are now sold at a premium on Chinese online marketplaces.
Despite this, Nvidia has continued to innovate, developing new models like the H20 and L20, with plans to ship over one million H20 GPUs to China in 2024 alone. However, Huawei’s emergence as a competitor means that Nvidia will face increased pressure in one of its most lucrative markets. China, which was Nvidia’s third-largest market in the last financial year, presents a major opportunity for Huawei to assert its dominance.
With orders for nearly 70,000 chips, valued at roughly $2 billion, Huawei is already making waves in the market. The Chinese firm plans to begin shipping these chips in October 2024, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal.