Huawei is gearing up to begin mass shipments of its advanced Ascend 910C AI chip to Chinese customers as early as May, according to a Reuters report. The move positions Huawei to fill the growing gap left by U.S. export restrictions on NVIDIA’s cutting-edge AI hardware.
The Ascend 910C is the latest upgrade in Huawei’s AI chip lineup, designed to strengthen China’s domestic tech ecosystem amid tightening U.S. trade controls. The chip combines two 910B processors into a single package, effectively doubling both computing power and memory, making it a powerful alternative for AI training and inference workloads.
The shipment announcement follows NVIDIA’s disclosure last week that the U.S. government could impose a $5.5 billion penalty for allegedly exporting its H20 AI chips to China without the required export licenses.
As U.S. sanctions increasingly limit China’s access to high-end AI hardware — including the top-performing NVIDIA H100, which was banned from sale to China in 2022 — domestic companies are accelerating efforts to replace Western technology with homegrown solutions.
Huawei Gains Ground in China’s AI Race
While the Ascend 910C is not widely seen as a technological leap over NVIDIA’s flagship chips, analysts note that its performance is competitive, especially in restricted markets. Early samples have already been distributed to Chinese tech firms, with Huawei now reportedly accepting commercial orders, though the company has not officially confirmed shipment schedules.
The AI chip is manufactured by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s top chipmaker, using its N+2 7nm process. Despite reports of relatively low yields, the collaboration marks a key milestone for China’s semiconductor self-sufficiency.
Some 910C units are believed to incorporate chips originally produced by Taiwan’s TSMC for Sophgo, another AI hardware vendor, prompting a U.S. investigation into potential sanctions violations.
Rising National Tensions and a Shifting AI Landscape
Huawei’s breakthrough comes amid broader geopolitical friction between the U.S. and China. Last month, China’s embassy in Washington responded to the Biden administration’s new tariffs on Chinese imports by posting a defiant statement on X (formerly Twitter), declaring:
“If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”
The growing split between U.S. and Chinese AI ecosystems is reshaping global technology supply chains. Major Chinese AI firms, including ByteDance — the parent company of TikTok — have reportedly shifted parts of their AI infrastructure to Huawei chips after NVIDIA’s advanced products became harder to source.
In an industry once dominated by U.S. hardware, China is now rapidly closing the gap. Last year, AI pioneer and 01.AI CEO Kai-Fu Lee remarked that China had lagged the U.S. by “six or seven years.” But as export controls bite, some analysts suggest the tables may be turning.
With U.S. sanctions accelerating the search for alternatives, Huawei’s Ascend 910C is expected to play a crucial role in powering China’s AI development for the foreseeable future.
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