As China looks for alternatives to Nvidia, Huawei prepares a new AI processor for mass delivery.
According to two people familiar with the situation, Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) intends to start shipping large quantities of its cutting-edge 910C artificial intelligence technology to Chinese clients as early as next month.
They further mentioned that some shipments had already been made.
The timing is fortunate for Chinese AI companies, who are now frantically searching for domestic substitutes for the H20, the main AI processor that Nvidia was previously permitted to freely sell in China.
This month, US President Donald Trump’s administration told Nvidia that sales of the H20 would require an export license.
According to a third person with knowledge of the design and one of the two individuals, Huawei’s 910C graphics processing unit (GPU) is an architectural development rather than a technological one.
They claimed that by integrating two 910B processors into a single device using sophisticated integration techniques, it provides performance on par with Nvidia’s H100 chip.
They noted that it offers incremental enhancements, such as improved support for a variety of AI workload data, and that it has twice the computing power and memory capacity of the 910B.
All of the sources refused to be named and were not authorized to speak to the media. Over what it described as conjecture over the 910C’s capabilities and shipment schedule, Huawei chose not to comment.
Washington has denied China access to Nvidia’s most cutting-edge AI technologies, including its flagship B200 chip, in an effort to restrict China’s technical advancements, especially those for its military.
For instance, U.S. authorities prohibited the sale of the H100 microprocessor in China in 2022 before it was ever introduced.
This has allowed Huawei and Chinese GPU startups such as Moore Threads and Iluvatar CoreX to go after what has primarily been a market dominated by Nvidia.
The most recent export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 by the US Commerce Department “will mean that Huawei’s Ascend 910C GPU will now become the hardware of choice for (Chinese) AI model developers and for deploying inference capacity,” according to Paul Triolo, a partner at the consultancy firm Albright Stonebridge Group.
According to insiders, Huawei began taking orders for the 910C late last year after distributing samples to a number of tech companies.
Reuters was unable to determine which businesses will be the main manufacturers of the 910C.
China’s SMIC is manufacturing some main components of the GPUs using its N+2 7nm process technology, although its chip yield rates are low, a source has previously said.
At least some of Huawei’s 910C GPUs use semiconductors that were made by TSMC for China-based Sophgo, according to one of the sources and a fourth person.
The Commerce Department has been investigating work done by the Taiwanese contract chip manufacturing giant for Sophgo after one of its TSMC-made chips was found in a 910B processor.
TSMC made nearly three million chips in recent years that matched the design ordered by Sophgo, according to Lennart Heim, a researcher at RAND’s Technology and Security and Policy Center in Arlington, Virginia, who is tracking Chinese developments in AI.
Huawei reiterated that it has not used TSMC-made Sophgo chips. Sophgo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TSMC said it complies with regulatory requirements, and it has not supplied Huawei since mid-September 2020.
