Despite U.S. Sanctions, China’s Huawei Set to Release AI Chip Comparable to Nvidia Soon

Huawei is set to launch the Ascend 910C as early as October. The company claims its performance is similar to that of Nvidia’s H100.

Huawei, a leading information and communication technology (ICT) company in China, is preparing to release a new AI chip soon, despite ongoing U.S. sanctions, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) yesterday.

According to WSJ sources, Huawei has tested its latest processor, the Ascend 910C, over the past few weeks.

The company has informed potential customers that this chip’s performance is similar to Nvidia’s H100, which is not sold in China.

The H100, released last year, is Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip available. Huawei is expected to launch its new chip as early as October.

The WSJ stated that this development is the latest sign that China is overcoming obstacles and successfully creating new alternatives in response to U.S. semiconductor sanctions.

Huawei has been under heavy sanctions since being placed on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2019. These sanctions have blocked Huawei from manufacturing chips through foundries like TSMC and restricted its access to critical components and manufacturing equipment. As a result, it has also faced difficulties in obtaining Nvidia’s A100 and H100 chips.

The WSJ, citing sources, mentioned that delays in the shipment of Huawei’s Ascend 910C are due to U.S. sanctions.

In recent weeks, Huawei has been stockpiling high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in advanced AI processors in preparation for possible updates to U.S. chip sanctions. Industry experts believe the U.S. will impose additional sanctions on China and major Chinese companies later this year.

Earlier, at a semiconductor industry conference in June, a Huawei executive mentioned that nearly half of China’s large language models are trained using Huawei chips. He also claimed that the performance of the 910B chip surpassed Nvidia’s A100 in model training.

However, a June analysis by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University noted that while the 910 series performs well compared to the A100, it faces significant challenges, such as limited manufacturing capabilities and low production yields. The report indicated that the 910B chip has not seen significant improvements over previous versions due to its fewer active AI cores, which are crucial for computation.