Huawei Technologies is preparing to ramp up mass shipments of its latest 910C artificial intelligence chip to domestic customers as early as next month, according to sources familiar with the matter. Some early shipments have already been made, they added.
The move comes at a crucial time for China’s AI sector, which has been scrambling to find alternatives to Nvidia’s H20 chip. Until recently, the H20 was freely available in China, but new U.S. export restrictions have now made it subject to licensing requirements.
The 910C, Huawei’s newest graphics processing unit, marks a significant architectural advancement, though not a radical technological leap. Sources familiar with the chip’s design said it achieves performance levels comparable to Nvidia’s H100 GPU by combining two of its previous 910B processors using advanced integration methods. This results in doubled computing power and memory capacity, along with improved support for diverse AI workloads.
The U.S. government has progressively tightened export restrictions on cutting-edge technology to China, citing concerns over military applications. These curbs have already blocked sales of Nvidia’s top-tier B200 and H100 chips to Chinese firms, with the H100 being banned even before its official release in 2022.
With Nvidia’s dominance in China under pressure, domestic players like Huawei, Moore Threads, and Iluvatar CoreX are seizing the opportunity to expand their share in the AI hardware market.
“The latest U.S. export curbs on Nvidia’s H20 will make Huawei’s Ascend 910C GPU the hardware of choice for Chinese AI developers,” said Paul Triolo, a partner at consultancy Albright Stonebridge Group.
Sources indicated that Huawei began distributing 910C samples to several tech companies late last year and has since started accepting commercial orders. However, it remains unclear which firms are leading production.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s top chipmaker, is reportedly producing key components of the GPU using its N+2 7nm technology, despite struggling with low yields. Some 910C units are also believed to include semiconductors originally made by Taiwan’s TSMC for China-based Sophgo, although Huawei has denied using such chips.
TSMC, for its part, stated it adheres to regulatory guidelines and has not supplied Huawei since September 2020.
The U.S. Commerce Department is currently investigating TSMC’s involvement after a chip made for Sophgo was found in a previoHuawei begins mass shipments of 910C chips as US curbs bite
Huawei Technologies is preparing to ramp up mass shipments of its latest 910C artificial intelligence chip to domestic customers as early as next month, according to sources familiar with the matter. Some early shipments have already been made, they added.
The move comes at a crucial time for China’s AI sector, which has been scrambling to find alternatives to Nvidia’s H20 chip. Until recently, the H20 was freely available in China, but new U.S. export restrictions have now made it subject to licensing requirements.
The 910C, Huawei’s newest graphics processing unit, marks a significant architectural advancement, though not a radical technological leap. Sources familiar with the chip’s design said it achieves performance levels comparable to Nvidia’s H100 GPU by combining two of its previous 910B processors using advanced integration methods. This results in doubled computing power and memory capacity, along with improved support for diverse AI workloads.
The U.S. government has progressively tightened export restrictions on cutting-edge technology to China, citing concerns over military applications. These curbs have already blocked sales of Nvidia’s top-tier B200 and H100 chips to Chinese firms, with the H100 being banned even before its official release in 2022.
With Nvidia’s dominance in China under pressure, domestic players like Huawei, Moore Threads, and Iluvatar CoreX are seizing the opportunity to expand their share in the AI hardware market.
“The latest U.S. export curbs on Nvidia’s H20 will make Huawei’s Ascend 910C GPU the hardware of choice for Chinese AI developers,” said Paul Triolo, a partner at consultancy Albright Stonebridge Group.
Sources indicated that Huawei began distributing 910C samples to several tech companies late last year and has since started accepting commercial orders. However, it remains unclear which firms are leading production.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s top chipmaker, is reportedly producing key components of the GPU using its N+2 7nm technology, despite struggling with low yields. Some 910C units are also believed to include semiconductors originally made by Taiwan’s TSMC for China-based Sophgo, although Huawei has denied using such chips.
TSMC, for its part, stated it adheres to regulatory guidelines and has not supplied Huawei since September 2020.
The U.S. Commerce Department is currently investigating TSMC’s involvement after a chip made for Sophgo was found in a previous Huawei processor.us Huawei processor.
