Huawei is close to launching the Ascend 910C, the next generation of its AI accelerator, in China. The company says its new chip is capable of competing with solutions from Nvidia, so it should have an advantage in the domestic market, which has had difficulty importing hardware from the US.
According to information from the Wall Street Journal, the Ascend 910C is already in the testing phase, and the manufacturer has sent samples to some of its partners. Thus, giants such as Baidu, ByteDance and China Mobile are reportedly testing the new chip. Huawei claims that its performance is comparable to the Nvidia H100, but did not disclose which parameters were used for this comparison.
If the Ascend 910C lives up to its manufacturer’s promises, the chip will become an attractive alternative to the HGX H20 that Nvidia is authorized to sell in China. Not only that, analyst Dylan Patel estimates that Huawei’s new chip should even be better than the B20, a “nerfed” version of the B200 that the green team is reportedly preparing for the Chinese market.
The Chinese manufacturer plans to begin official distribution of the Ascend 910C in October. Current estimates put the first orders at more than 70,000 units, which would result in revenue of $2 billion for Huawei.
Huawei braces for new sanctions
To be able to take advantage of the potential of its new AI chip, Huawei still has to face some difficulties. For starters, rumors have even claimed that the company is facing low yields in the manufacturing of the Ascend 910B.
On top of that, there are ongoing US sanctions against China, which appear to be getting more restrictions soon – even though some US politicians are opposed to them. Huawei is rumored to be stockpiling HBM2E memory to prepare for further blockades. The company is also reportedly encouraging SMIC to do the same with its stockpile of chipmaking materials and tools.
More news:
Trade tensions between the US and China have led Chinese companies to turn to less-than-ideal AI chip options. If the Ascend 910C is indeed a great chip, it could eat into the market for underpowered products, smuggled chips and custom home GPUs that have more memory.
Source: Tom’s Hardware
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Source: https://www.adrenaline.com.br/hardware/huawei-diz-que-seu-novo-chip-para-ia-compete-com-h100-da-nvidia/
