Huawei Gets Ready to Challenge NVIDIA with New AI Chip Ascend 910D
Some huge things are cooking up in the artificial intelligence hardware scene, especially behind Chinese shores. It seems Huawei is seriously gearing up to take a major player position, and maybe even outrun NVIDIA's dominance in the domestic market. The latest buzz is regarding their new AI chip, the Ascend 910D.
The Ascend 910D: Testing the Waters
We can see that this new-generation Ascend chip is already flowing through supply chains and is currently in the trial phase. It is said that domestic businesses will start receiving samples as early as late May. In other words, Huawei is rapidly pushing ahead with its AI semiconductor project and is clearly interested in capturing the local market.
While some technical specifics about the Ascend 910D are still not entirely certain, according to reports, this new chip is designed to outclass NVIDIA's Hopper generation H100 AI accelerators. The H100 was previously a highly sought chip in China before export controls were imposed.
It's worth noting that Huawei's earlier Ascend 910C chip, while a considerable achievement, didn't quite meet initial expectations of rivaling the H100, reportedly competing closer to the more restricted H20 AI GPU. However, even matching the H20 is seen as a major step given the circumstances.
Beyond the Chip: Building AI Clusters
Huawei is not just developing independent chips; they're also producing very powerful AI clusters. They've reportedly designed the CloudMatrix 384 AI cluster, using their Ascend chips. The system purportedly offers performance levels on par with NVIDIA's high-end GB200 NVL72 "Blackwell" AI servers. This shows that Huawei is closing the technology gap with Western competitors, perhaps by emphasizing brute performance at the expense of power efficiency.
Navigating the Hurdles
Despite these developments, Huawei has significant challenges. Their sources of key components are limited, and they rely primarily on chips from SMIC and existing inventory from TSMC before the restriction tightening. This limited supply chain prevents them from being able to fully leverage the high demand for AI hardware.
In addition, they can also still rely on more advanced memory technologies like HBM2. This could mean that they have to look for other ways of boosting performance, perhaps having to accept lower performance-per-watt than rivals using newer technology.
Trial testing is being done with several Chinese tech firms to test the feasibility of the new Ascend 910D chip, as Huawei aims to become a dominant force in the core domestic AI chip market.
