Curated by THEOUTPOST
On Tue, 29 Apr, 12:01 AM UTC
19 Sources
[1]
Huawei aims to take on Nvidia's H100 with new AI chip | TechCrunch
Chinese tech conglomerate Huawei is looking to take on semiconductor behemoth Nvidia with a new advanced AI chip. Huawei is making progress developing its latest Ascend AI GPU, the Ascend 910D, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar. The company has been reaching out to other Chinese firms to find test partners, the Wall Street Journal reports, and hopes that its chip will rival Nvidia's H100 series, which is popular for training AI models. The development comes just a few weeks after the U.S. imposed further restrictions on the export of certain AI chips to China. If Huawei is successful, it could help fill a void in the Chinese AI market left by increased chip export controls in the U.S. TechCrunch has reached out to Huawei for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
[2]
Huawei delivers advanced AI chip 'cluster' to Chinese clients cut off from Nvidia
Huawei has started the delivery of its advanced artificial intelligence chip "cluster" to Chinese clients who are increasing orders after being cut off from Nvidia's semiconductors because of Washington's export restrictions. The Shenzhen-based tech conglomerate has sold more than 10 sets of CloudMatrix 384, which links a large sum of chips together, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Those who received the first deliveries include data centres that serve Chinese tech companies, one of the people said. Industry analysts have said they are impressed by the speed at which Huawei has built and begun to ship CloudMatrix, a system that connects 384 AI processors to provide the computing power needed to develop AI models and services. "The development of Huawei's CloudMatrix 384 means China now has an AI system capable of beating Nvidia's," said Dylan Patel, founder of chip consultancy SemiAnalysis. Huawei's new product comes as Chinese customers have been further restricted from Nvidia's AI chips. The US group said this month it would take a $5.5bn earnings hit after President Donald Trump made its H20 chip, tailored to comply with earlier export controls, require a special licence to be sold to Chinese customers. Huawei is accelerating its chip development to help domestic tech companies compete with their global peers despite their restricted access to the world's best technology in the area. It has told local clients its CloudMatrix performs significantly better than Nvidia's NVL72, a popular AI cluster used by US tech giants, which consists of 72 of its GB200 chips, in terms of computing power and memory, according to a company presentation reviewed by the Financial Times and people with knowledge of the matter. CloudMatrix 384 uses Huawei's Ascend 910C chips, which by themselves underperform Nvidia's GB200 processors. But Huawei has used a larger quantity of the chips -- connected by its "super node", through which all processors in the set are connected using optical technology -- to boost the cluster's overall performance. In a company presentation, Huawei claimed CloudMatrix outperformed NVL72 in key metrics, saying it was 67 per cent higher in compute and more than three times larger in aggregate memory capacity. "It is compensating for weaker individual chip performance with advanced networking to boost the chip performance in a cluster," said Patel at SemiAnalysis. Industry analysts said Huawei had leveraged its background in telecommunications to improve its chip systems' performance. Despite the strong metrics, CloudMatrix 384 has several disadvantages compared with Nvidia's rival product, said industry experts. Due to the use of more chips, CloudMatrix 384 has much higher energy consumption, leading to larger electricity bills. Huawei's software systems, compared with Nvidia's Cuda, require more maintenance from experienced engineers, resulting in operational manpower costs three to five times larger. Still, given China's abundance of power and engineers, CloudMatrix was a viable solution for clients, especially when they were cut off from Nvidia's most advanced technology, said people with knowledge of the sales. CloudMatrix 384 sells for about Rmb60mn ($8.2mn) a set, and the exact price depends on the individual contract, according to industry insiders. This compares with about $3mn for Nvidia's NVL72, according to analyst estimates. Nvidia said it had range of prices depending on original equipment manufacturer and customer specifications.
[3]
China's Huawei develops new AI chip, seeking to match Nvidia, WSJ reports
Huawei's annual report released Monday is the first high-profile corporate event CFO Meng Wanzhou has led since returning to China from Canada after a nearly three-year extradition battle with the U.S. China's Huawei Technologies is preparing to test its newest and most powerful artificial-intelligence processor, hoping to replace some higher-end products of U.S. chip giant Nvidia, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The Chinese company hopes that the latest iteration of its Ascend AI processors will be more powerful than Nvidia's H100, and is slated to receive the first batch of samples of the processor as early as late May, the report added. Reuters reported on Monday that Huawei plans to begin mass shipments of its advanced 910C artificial intelligence chip to Chinese customers as early as next month. Huawei and its Chinese peers have struggled for years to match Nvidia in building top-end chips that could compete with the U.S. firm's products for training models, a process where data is fed to algorithms to help them learn to make accurate decisions. Seeking to limit China's technological development, particularly advances for its military, Washington has cut China off from Nvidia's most advanced AI products, including its flagship B200 chip. The H100 chip, for example, was banned from sale in China in 2022 by U.S. authorities before it was even launched. Nvidia declined to comment while Huawei did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
[4]
China's Huawei develops new AI chip in bid to match US' Nvidia
The new chip by Huawei is known as the Ascend 910D, and some Chinese companies have already discussed the prospect of testing the technical feasibility of this new chip. According to Huawei, the first batch of the Ascend AI processors is due to be received by the end of May. The Chinese company also believes that the latest iteration of this chip has greater power compared to the powerful Nvidia H100 chip. The information regarding the same was revealed by a report in the Wall Street Journal. Elsewhere, Reuters has also reported that Huawei is already planning to make its advanced 910C artificial intelligence chip available for Chinese customers as early as next month. When Huawei introduced its first Ascend 910 processor in 2019, it boasted 256 TeraFLOPS of FP16 performance -- a major milestone at the time. In just six years, the company has advanced through several chip generations, with the Ascend 910C now delivering around 60 percent of Nvidia's H100 inference performance, according to independent research.
[5]
Nvidia takes a $5.5 billion hit from new US Chinese restrictions as Huawei charges ahead with Ascend 920
On April 9, 2025, the United States announced plans to further tighten restrictions on AI chip exports to China, including Nvidia's H20 processor, a reduced-performance chip which the company created to comply with earlier US export regulations while continuing sales in China. Huawei, which has been positioning itself as China's answer to Nvidia for some time, was likely waiting for the announcement because just one day later, at a partner conference, it revealed the Ascend 920, its next-generation AI chip. Set to enter mass production in the second half of 2025, according to DigiTimes Asia, the chip is expected to be built on SMIC's 6nm process and offer up to 900 TFLOPs of BF16 compute and 4000GB/s of memory bandwidth, supported by HBM3 memory modules. It will also support PCIe 5.0 and next-generation interconnect protocols to aid large-model training. With the Nvidia H20 now restricted in China, industry analysts believe Huawei's new chip could bridge the gap. Although real-world benchmarks are not yet available, the Ascend 920's specifications suggest it could be an effective alternative to Nvidia's H20 and may be welcomed by Chinese companies like Tencent and ByteDance, which will now require substitutes for the restricted chip. While the current Ascend 910C is estimated to deliver about 60% of the Nvidia H100's inference performance, the Ascend 920 reportedly improves training efficiency by 30% to 40% and is tailored for Transformer and Mixture of Experts models. Nvidia had been making strong sales in China through the H20, with sales reportedly growing 50% quarter over quarter before the ban. The new license requirement from the U.S. Department of Commerce effectively halts those sales, and Nvidia is expected to write off $5.5 billion in lost business as a result. Huawei also announced its AI CloudMatrix 384 Supernode solution at the same event. This rack-scale platform, described as a 'Nuclear-level product', reportedly exceeds the performance of Nvidia's GB200 but consumes more power, something that is not seen as a major concern in China compared to the West.
[6]
Nvidia faces a new threat from Huawei
Chinese tech giant Huawei is getting ready to test powerful, new AI chips that could rival those made by Nvidia (NVDA), according to a new report. Huawei Technologies will receive its first shipment of Ascend 910E chips from manufacturers as soon as the end of May, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The processor is Huawei's most powerful AI semiconductor to date. According to the report, Huawei is hopeful that the chips will be more powerful than Nvidia's H100 AI training chip, which it released in 2022. The Shenzhen-based firm boosts the chip's performance by packing in more silicon. Shares of Nvidia were down about 3.5% by late Monday morning. The chip is in the early stages of development and will need to undergo testing with an initial batch of customers to measure its performance, the sources said. Huawei, one of China's biggest tech companies, has made persistent technological advances in recent years despite U.S. sanctions against it. The firm has been on a U.S.-trade blacklist for six years, and the U.S. restricts chipmakers from selling certain chip technologies to Chinese firms in an effort to curb the country's advancements with AI chip technology. The tightening restrictions under both the Biden and Trump administrations have dealt blows to Nvidia by limiting its potential market. Nvidia designed its H20 chip, in particular, to comply with U.S. export rules -- but those rules became even stricter and barred the Santa Clara, California-based company from selling them in China. Beijing has slammed the U.S.' approach and President Donald Trump's attempts to pressure other countries to cut their own trade with China. Earlier this month, China's foreign ministry said it firmly opposes any trade agreements between the U.S. and third-party countries "at the expense of China," framing the moves as aggressive rather than defensive. Nvidia is the world's most valuable chipmaker with a market capitalization of about $2.6 trillion. But its shares are down 22.5% this year in the face of Trump's escalating trade war with China.
[7]
Huawei to Test New Ascend 910D Chip Amid NVIDIA Crisis | AIM Media House
Huawei seeks to replace some of NVIDIA's high-end processors, promoting self-sufficiency. Huawei is preparing to test its new AI chip, the Ascend 910D, in China by reaching out to various tech companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes as Huawei seeks to replace some of NVIDIA's high-end processors following Washington's tightening of semiconductor export restrictions to China. The Ascend 910D is set for initial sample delivery by late May, and Huawei has already approached several Chinese tech companies to assess the chip's technical feasibility. The tests will determine if the new chip can match or outperform NVIDIA's H100, a key processor for AI development. Huawei's efforts underline Beijing's push for a self-sufficient semiconductor industry. This comes shortly after reports claiming that Huawei is preparing to ship its Ascend 910C AI chips amid US restrictions. The company's chip development remains in its early stages and will require a series of technical evaluations before it can be deployed to customers. The new chip is part of Huawei's broader strategy to fortify China's AI and semiconductor industries after being placed on a US trade blacklist nearly six years ago. The company has already shipped more than 8,00,000 units of its Ascend 910B and 910C chips to clients this year. This includes state-owned telecommunications carriers and private AI developers such as ByteDance, the Chinese tech company that owns TikTok. Washington's recent move to restrict sales of NVIDIA's H20 chip has created opportunities for domestic competitors. NVIDIA also announced in an exchange filing that the US government has potentially charged it $5.5 billion for exporting H20 AI chips to China, one of its key markets, without a license. Despite manufacturing difficulties, Chinese firms, including Huawei, have been able to develop AI chips comparable to those of NVIDIA, although there is a performance lag of several years. Facing challenges such as limited access to TSMC and restricted availability of high-end components, Huawei has shifted its focus toward building systems that connect multiple chips.
[8]
Can Huawei's AI chip could shake up Nvidia's dominance?
Huawei Technologies is set to test its newest artificial-intelligence processor, the Ascend 910D, in a bid to rival Nvidia's high-end products, according to an exclusive The Wall Street Journal article. The development underscores the resilience of China's semiconductor industry despite U.S. efforts to restrict its access to Western chip-making equipment. The Ascend 910D is expected to be more powerful than Nvidia's H100 chip, released in 2022, said one of the people. Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies to test the chip's technical feasibility and is slated to receive the first batch of samples as early as late May. The company has previously developed the 910B and 910C versions of its Ascend AI processors. Huawei's advancements in AI chips are part of Beijing's efforts to foster a self-sufficient semiconductor industry. The company has emerged as a champion in this field, developing substitutes for Nvidia's AI chips. This year, Huawei is poised to ship over 800,000 Ascend 910B and 910C chips to customers, including state-owned telecommunications carriers and private AI developers like ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Some buyers have already expressed interest in increasing their orders of the 910C following the U.S. restrictions on Nvidia's H20 chip sales in China. Nvidia announced it would take a $5.5 billion charge as a result of these restrictions. The restrictions present an opportunity for Huawei and other Chinese rivals like Cambricon Technologies to gain ground. Despite manufacturing challenges, Huawei has managed to deliver some products comparable to Nvidia's chips, albeit with a lag. The company faces hurdles in producing chips at scale due to being cut off from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's largest chip foundry, and restrictions on accessing advanced chip-making equipment and key components like high-bandwidth memory units. Nvidia's NeMo tools aim to fix weak AI returns for businesses In response, Huawei has focused on building more efficient and faster systems to leverage its chips. In April, the company introduced the CloudMatrix 384, a computing system connecting 384 Ascend 910C chips, which some analysts deemed more powerful than Nvidia's flagship rack system under certain circumstances. Industry practitioners note that connecting multiple chips in a system requires stable networks, software, and engineering to prevent network failures. Research firm SemiAnalysis commented that having more Ascend chips could offset their individual performance differences compared to Nvidia's Blackwell chips, and that power deficiencies, while relevant, are not a limiting factor in China.
[9]
China's Huawei Develops New AI Chip, Seeking to Match Nvidia, WSJ Reports
Washington has cut China off from Nvidia's most advanced AI products China's Huawei Technologies is preparing to test its newest and most powerful artificial-intelligence processor, hoping to replace some higher-end products of US chip giant Nvidia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The Chinese company hopes that the latest iteration of its Ascend AI processors will be more powerful than Nvidia's H100, and is slated to receive the first batch of samples of the processor as early as late May, the report added. Reuters reported on Monday that Huawei plans to begin mass shipments of its advanced 910C artificial intelligence chip to Chinese customers as early as next month. Huawei and its Chinese peers have struggled for years to match Nvidia in building top-end chips that could compete with the US firm's products for training models, a process where data is fed to algorithms to help them learn to make accurate decisions. Seeking to limit China's technological development, particularly advances for its military, Washington has cut China off from Nvidia's most advanced AI products, including its flagship B200 chip. The H100 chip, for example, was banned from sale in China in 2022 by US authorities before it was even launched. Nvidia declined to comment while Huawei did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. © Thomson Reuters 2025
[10]
Nvidia Stock Drops on Report Huawei Is Developing Rival AI Chip
According to The Wall Street Journal, Huawei "is gearing up to test its newest and most powerful artificial-intelligence processor, which the company hopes could replace some higher-end products" from Nvidia. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said that "Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D." Shares of Nvidia, which declined to comment on the report, were down close to 4% in recent trading. They've lost a fifth of their value since the start of the year, and have yet to fully recover from their plunge on Jan. 27 that wiped nearly $600 billion from the company's market cap when Chinese startup DeepSeek said its models rivaled those of OpenAI's Chat GPT at a fraction of the cost. Earlier this month, Nvidia said it is expecting to record a $5.5 billion first-quarter charge after the U.S. limited exports of its H20 chips to China.
[11]
Watch These Nvidia Price Levels as Stock Slips on News of Chinese Rival's AI Chip
Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell on Monday to snap a four-day winning streak following news that China's Huawei Technologies is developing a rival AI chip. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Chinese company hopes the new chip could replace some of Nvidia's high performance products, adding that it has approached several Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the chip. Nvidia shares are up about 25% from their early-April low but have lost around a fifth of their value since the start of the year as of Monday's close. In recent months the AI favorite's stock has come under pressure due to concerns over significantly cheaper AI technology coming out of China and a federal crackdown on the export of the company's popular H20 chips to China. Below, we take a closer look at Nvidia's chart and apply technical analysis to identify key price levels worth watching out for. Nvidia shares continue to oscillate within a falling wedge after a bear trap emerged on the chart earlier this month, a trading event that lures investors to sell upon a breach of major support -- the pattern's lower trendline in this case -- before the price makes a sudden move higher. More recently, the price has pushed up against the pattern's upper trendline, potentially paving the way for a bullish breakout. Meanwhile, the relative strength index (RSI) has crossed back above the 50 threshold, indicating improving price momentum. Let's identify two key overhead areas on Nvidia's chart that could come into play and also locate crucial support levels worth monitoring. A breakout above the falling wedge pattern's upper trendline could initially see the shares test the $115 level. This area may provide overhead resistance near the April swing high, a location that also aligns with several retracements on the chart stretching back to last September. Buying above this area may trigger a move up to around $130. Investors who have bought shares at lower prices could look for exit points in this region near last year's prominent August peak and December trough. Interestingly, this location also sits just below a bars pattern projected upside target that takes the stock's move higher following a prior bear trap on the chart and overlays it from this month's low. A move lower could lead to a retest of support at $96. Investors may look for buying opportunities at this level near last week's swing low and two notable peaks that formed on the chart in March last year. Finally, a decisive breakdown below the falling wedge pattern's lower trendline could see Nvidia shares revisit lower support around $87. This area on the chart may provide support near the bear trap low and lines up with a range of price action between March and May last year. The comments, opinions, and analyses expressed on Investopedia are for informational purposes only. Read our warranty and liability disclaimer for more info.
[12]
Nvidia stock drops as Huawei unveils new AI chip amid US export ban; will Huawei's Ascend 910D AI chip outperform Nvidia's H100
Nvidia's shares fell 2% in Monday's early trading after a report said that Huawei would be launching a new, and advanced AI chip, as per Yahoo Finance. Huawei's move comes after the US government banned Nvidia's chip sales to China amid the rising trade war between both nations. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Huawei is creating a new AI chip named the Ascend 910D that it believes will surpass Nvidia's H100 chips in performance. The new chips are successors to Huawei's 910B and 910C chips and are currently in the early stages of development, as per the report. The firm has already contacted a few Chinese technology companies to test the chips, reported Wall Street Journal. Huawei will also deliver more than 800,000 units of the previous 910B and 910C models to clients, including state-owned telecom operators and AI developers like ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, as per the report. The timing of the announcement could not be more unfortunate for Nvidia. The chipmaker had recently reported that it would suffer a $5.5 billion loss following the US export ban on its H20 AI chips, designed for the Chinese market, as per Yahoo Finance. The analysts at JPMorgan estimate that the ban has the potential to cut Nvidia's revenue by as much as $16 billion this year alone, according to the report. Nvidia's China business is a substantial portion of its revenue stream, DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria estimated that about 40% of Nvidia's revenue comes from China due to chip smuggling, reported Yahoo Finance. While, analysts at Bernstein had reported that China accounted for $17 billion, or 13%, of Nvidia's revenue in its fiscal year 2025, as per Yahoo Finance. Nvidia stock has fallen more than 17% this year, as it suffered from investor scrutiny over AI spending from Big Tech giants and US president Donald Trump's trade war, according to the report. The US government said it has launched an investigation into Nvidia over the use of its AI chips in China, as per the report. Why did Nvidia's stock fall on Monday? Nvidia's stock fell by 2% after news broke that Huawei is developing a new AI chip, the Ascend 910D, which could surpass Nvidia's current top chip, the H100, as per Yahoo Finance. How will the US export ban affect Nvidia? The US export ban prevents Nvidia from selling its H20 AI chips to China, which is expected to cost the company $5.5 billion in losses, as per Yahoo Finance. Analysts predict the ban could reduce Nvidia's total revenue by up to $16 billion this year.
[13]
Nvidia Stock Is Sliding Monday Morning: What's Going On? - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)
NVIDIA Corp NVDA shares are trading lower Monday. Reports from the weekend indicated that China's Huawei Technologies has developed an AI chip to directly challenge Nvidia. What To Know: Huawei has developed a new AI processor called Ascend 910D that it hopes will be a replacement for some higher-end chips made by Nvidia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. People familiar with the matter said Huawei already approached some Chinese technology companies with intentions of testing the technical practicability of the new chip. Development of the chip is still in the early stages, but the company could reportedly receive its first sample batches by late May. This latest version of the company's Ascend AI processor is expected to be more powerful than Nvidia's H100. The news comes after Nvidia said in a regulatory filing earlier this month that the U.S. government informed the company that it will need a license to export certain chips to China, focused on the company's H20 chips. A license will also be required for any other circuits achieving the H20's memory bandwidth, interconnect bandwidth, or a combination thereof, Nvidia said in the filing. Check This Out: Chamath Palihapitiya Says Nvidia Is Huawei's 'New Target' -- A 'National Champion' That Crushed Tech Giants With A 'Low-End Disruptor' Strategy As a result of the restrictions, Nvidia said it expects its first-quarter financial results to include up to $5.5 billion of charges associated with H20 products held in inventory. Nvidia's fiscal first quarter ended on Sunday and the company is due to report financial results for the period next month. Analysts currently expect the chipmaker to report earnings of 88 cents per share and revenue of $43.09 billion, according to estimates from Benzinga Pro. Huawei's new chip is the latest version of its Ascend processor, with previous versions being called 910B and 910C. The report indicates that the Chinese chipmaker is expected to ship more than 800,000 Ascend 910B and 910C chips to customers this year. Some buyers are also reportedly in talks to increase orders following the chip restrictions from the Trump administration. NVDA Price Action: Nvidia shares were down 0.96% at $109.94 at the time of publication Monday, according to Benzinga Pro. Read Next: If You Invested $10K In Nvidia Stock 10 Years Ago, How Much Would You Have Now? Photo: Hepha1st0s/Shutterstock. NVDANVIDIA Corp$109.92-0.98%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum63.64Growth94.83Quality97.45Value7.28Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
[14]
Analyst Warns Of Major Nvidia Setback in China As Huawei Advances AI Chip: 'It's Pretty Much Game Over For Nvidia in China' - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Brian Colello, Morningstar's equity strategist, expressed a bearish outlook on Nvidia's China business, while maintaining a positive view on its prospects in developed markets. What Happened: Colello suggested that Huawei's competitive threat is a significant obstacle for Nvidia, especially in China. He stated, "I think it's pretty much game over for Nvidia in China." Colello, while speaking to Yahoo Finance pointed out that U.S. restrictions, including the ban on Nvidia's H20 chip, have hindered Nvidia's ability to sell high-performance chips in China. Nvidia has reportedly recorded a $5.5 billion write-off tied to its China business, with further details expected in its earnings report later in May. Colello believes Nvidia's operations in China have steadily deteriorated, calling the H20 ban "the final straw" of Nvidia being able to sell anything halfway decent into China. Colello also expects Huawei's products to be higher quality than Nvidia's H20 chips. While Nvidia faces challenges in China, Colello remains optimistic about the company's short-term prospects in developed markets like Europe and the U.S., highlighting strong demand from hyperscalers like Google GOOG GOOGL and Microsoft MSFT. He is confident that U.S. companies will not slowdown their AI investments even if there is a potential recession in the future. SEE ALSO: Elon Musk Says Will Come As A 'Surprise To Most' As China's Economy Surpasses US And EU Amid Rising Tariffs And Growing Recession Fears Why It Matters: Huawei has begun testing its new AI chip, the Ascend 910D, which is designed to rival Nvidia's flagship processors. This move comes even as U.S. sanctions continue to stifle China's semiconductor ambitions. Get StartedStart Futures Trading Fast -- with a $200 Bonus Join Plus500 today and get up to $200 to start trading real futures. Practice with free paper trading, then jump into live markets with lightning-fast execution, low commissions, and full regulatory protection. Get Started Furthermore, the Trump administration is reportedly considering significant changes to Biden-era restrictions on AI chip exports. These changes could further tighten access to Nvidia's H100 chips. These developments could potentially impact Nvidia's market position in China and its overall growth. While Huawei's current offerings don't yet signal Chinese superiority in AI, Colello noted that China's rapid progress -- exemplified by Huawei and models like DeepSeek -- raises concerns about its ability to catch up faster than anticipated. However, strategist Colello remains confident in U.S. tech dominance with Nvidia continuing to lead in innovation. Colello also pointed to projects like Stargate to highlight the significant investment opportunities in U.S. AI infrastructure. He named Nvidia as one of Morningstar's top picks, emphasizing its limited vulnerability to new tariffs and its dominant position in the AI sector. Benzinga's Edge Rankings highlight strong momentum and growth rankings for Nvidia in the 64th and 95th percentiles, respectively. Curious how other stocks stack up? Click here to uncover growth and momentum scores for top stocks. READ MORE: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Warns Recession Is Best-Case Outcome Of Trump Trade War Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. GOOGAlphabet Inc$161.98-0.05%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum46.45Growth64.28Quality90.82Value52.28Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewGOOGLAlphabet Inc$160.00-0.10%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$394.04-%NVDANVIDIA Corp$107.30-1.58%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
[15]
Huawei Starts Delivering Its CloudMatrix 384 AI Clusters To Chinese Customers; Costs Three Times Higher Than NVIDIA's GB200 NVL72 System
Huawei's CloudMatrix 384 AI cluster has started to see adoption from Chinese tech giants, who are reportedly impressed by the server's capabilities relative to NVIDIA's offerings. Well, it seems like Huawei won't stop when it comes to expanding its AI computing portfolio and capitalizing on NVIDIA's vulnerable position in China, as the firm has stepped up its development process. We recently disclosed how Huawei had prepared the CloudMatrix 384 AI cluster, which is said to be entirely developed through in-house products, and gave performance that would likely give NVIDIA a tough time competing in the domestic market. Now, the Financial Times reports that ten different clients have adopted the CloudMatrix 384 AI server, signaling a massive breakthrough for Huawei's AI ambitions. It is claimed that Chinese tech giants have already integrated the AI cluster into their data center portfolio, and while the names of customers haven't been disclosed yet, it has been revealed that they are primary customers of Huawei's product offerings. We did cover CloudMatrix 384 extensively in the past, but for a quick summary, it is said that Huawei's solution successfully competes with NVIDIA's most powerful AI server, the GB200 NVL72, showing that China no longer depends on anyone else for its computational needs. Regarding specifications, the CloudMatrix 384 (CM384) AI cluster features 384 Ascend 910C chips connected in an "all-to-all topology" configuration. Interestingly, Huawei has managed to cover the architectural flaws by housing five times as many Ascend chips as NVIDIA's GB200. A CloudMatrix cluster is said to deliver 300 PetaFLOPS of BF16 computing, almost two times higher than GB200 NVL72. However, the only drawback here is the power CloudMatrix 384 is expected to consume, which is said to be 3.9x the power of a GB200 NVL72 and somewhat "awful" perf/watt figures across AI workloads. Interesting, the price of a single CloudMatrix 384 AI cluster is said to be $8 million, which is almost three times higher than NVIDIA's GB200 NVL72 configuration, so the key motive behind Huawei's product is not to provide a cost-effective performance, rather a product that is made through in-house resources and is capable enough to compete with Western alternatives.
[16]
Huawei's New AI Cluster Takes On Nvidia, But At A Higher Cost Following Sanctions - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Feel unsure about the market's next move? Copy trade alerts from Matt Maley -- a Wall Street veteran who consistently finds profits in volatile markets. Claim your 7-day free trial now. Huawei Technologies has started delivering its advanced artificial intelligence chip "cluster" to Chinese clients, who ramped up orders after Washington's semiconductor sanctions cut them off from Nvidia Corp's NVDA sophisticated technology. The erstwhile Chinese smartphone giant has sold over 10 sets of CloudMatrix 384, which fuses a large sum of chips, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. Nvidia stock is trading lower on Wednesday. Also Read: Nvidia Powers Next-Gen Adaptive Digital AI Agents For Cisco, Nasdaq, And Meta Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis told the Financial Times that Huawei's CloudMatrix 384 development signifies that China now has an AI system capable of beating Nvidia. Nvidia projected a $5.5 billion earnings hit after President Donald Trump mandated a license to sell H20 chips to China. Huawei claimed its CloudMatrix outperformed Nvidia's NVL72 AI cluster, which consists of 72 of its GB200 chips, the Financial Times cited from a company presentation. CloudMatrix 384 uses Huawei's Ascend 910C chips, which underperform Nvidia's GB200 processors. However, Huawei has used a larger quantity of chips connected by its "super node." However, CloudMatrix 384 has several disadvantages compared to Nvidia, industry experts told Financial Times. CloudMatrix 384 has much higher energy consumption due to the higher number of chips, and Huawei's software systems require more maintenance from experienced engineers, entailing higher costs than Nvidia. CloudMatrix 384 sells for about 60 million Chinese yuan ($8.2 million), a set compared to $3 million for Nvidia's NVL72. BofA Securities analyst Vivek Arya had highlighted growing concerns that AI data center buildouts might peak in 2025 and then considerably slow down afterward. However, he also expects that capex from non-CSPs, including emerging cloud vendors, enterprises, and national AI infrastructure projects, could be an additional source of sustaining AI investments. Arya's top AI picks were Nvidia and Broadcom Inc AVGO, respective merchant and custom AI silicon leaders. Price Action: NVDA stock is down 1.23% at $107.68 at the last check Wednesday. Read Next: Intel Ramps Up New Chip Tech To Take On Taiwan Semiconductor's Global Lead Photo via Shutterstock NVDANVIDIA Corp$107.21-1.66%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum59.23Growth94.79Quality97.52Value7.31Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewAVGOBroadcom Inc$190.61-0.29%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
[17]
Nvidia Gets Hit by China Threat. Time to Buy the Dip? | The Motley Fool
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA -2.02%) were pulling back today as investors responded to a new threat facing the AI superstar. Just weeks after the company disclosed a write-off of as much as $5.5 billion due to new rules preventing exports of its H20 chips that were specifically designed for China, Nvidia now appears to be facing new competition out of China as Chinese tech giant Huawei is reportedly set to launch a new AI chip. As a result, Nvidia stock was down 2.6% as of 3:21 p.m. ET. The tech race between the U.S. and China continues to heat up as The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Huawei is aiming to test it new AI chip known as the Ascend 910D, which it hopes will be more powerful than Nvidia's H100s, the prized graphics processing unit (GPU) that has driven the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. According to the report, Huawei plans to ship more than 800,000 of the new chips to customers, including state-owned telecoms and ByteDance, the parent of TikTok. The U.S. and China are involved in something of a cold war as the federal government has restricted exports to China and put pressure on allies to do the same. In turn, the U.S. is also seeking to restrict the use of China-owned technology, such as TikTok and DeepSeek in the country. Given the relationship and the general perception of China, the reach of Huawei's AI chip could be limited to just China. Meanwhile, Nvidia seems to be losing its China business following the Trump administration's new restriction, so the threat from Huawei may be less than what it seems. However, there are concerns that a substantial percentage of Nvidia's business comes from its chips being illegally smuggled into China. It's also worth remembering that Nvidia continues to improve its own technology. At a price-to-earnings ratio of 37, the stock looks very reasonably valued. Taking advantage of the dip here should pay off over the long run.
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Huawei delivers advanced AI chip cluster to China clients after Nvidia curbs - FT By Investing.com
Investing.com-- Huawei has started delivering its advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip "cluster", CloudMatrix 384, to Chinese customers seeking alternatives to Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) amid tightening U.S. export restrictions, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter The Chinese tech giant has sold more than 10 sets of these systems, which link Huawei's 384 Ascend 910C processors to boost computing power, the report said. Early recipients include data centers serving Chinese technology firms, the FT reported. CloudMatrix 384 is positioned as a domestic replacement for Nvidia's NVL72 cluster, which is widely used by US tech giants, and consists of 72 of its GB200 chips, the report said. Earlier this month, Washington placed Nvidia's H20 chip -- the most advanced it could sell in China without a license -- on its restricted export list. Nvidia said the move would lead to a $5.5 billion charge in the first quarter. Huawei claims its system offers 67% higher compute performance and over three times the memory capacity, according to an internal presentation seen by the FT. Despite performance advantages, CloudMatrix consumes significantly more power and requires greater operational manpower, the report said. Still, Huawei's offering is gaining traction as Chinese firms seek alternatives to U.S. chips, it added.
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Nvidia Vs. Huawei: Can the Chinese Giant Catch Up With the AI Chip Leader?
Although Huawei first gained global recognition as a smartphone maker, the chip designer is evolving into a foundational technology pillar for China. Much like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is a strategic asset for the US, Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) is broadening its mandate across semiconductors, AI, telecommunications, and ultimately, ensuring China's self-reliance amid stiff US export controls. With DeepSeek, China has already demonstrated it can upset the AI stock arena. According to the Wall Street Journal's sources, a deeper disruption could be underway with Huawei's new AI chip Ascend 910D. Purportedly, the D version is set to outperform Nvidia's H100 chips, the series that trained most of today's large language models (LLMs). Previously, we covered that 14% of Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) revenue comes from China, and likely up to 33% if Singapore is included as a transshipment point. With Huawei's latest push, could Nvidia find itself in a situation similar to Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) against Chinese BYD? Current Ranking of AI Chips At present, Nvidia's flagship B200 chip, built on Blackwell architecture, has no match in terms of performance. With that being said, it also matters how chips are deployed. Case in point, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's El Capitan currently ranks as the world's fastest supercomputer, employing AMD's EPYC and Instinct MI300A accelerators. But owing to Nvidia's full stack approach that integrates hardware, networking, and software, the company's products became go-to solutions for AI workloads in data centers. In the first wave of the AI hype, Nvidia mostly sold A100 accelerators (Ampere architecture) to hyperscalers such as Meta (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), followed by H100s (Hopper architecture). This all changed in October 2022 when the U.S. Commerce Department implemented export controls for both the A100 and H100 series. Less than a year later, Nvidia nerfed both into A800 and H800 to continue its China sales. DeepSeek R1 leveraged H800 for training (pre-deployment) combined with Huawei's Ascend 910C chip for inferencing (post-deployment). According to the DeepSeek team, the Ascend 910C gives approximately 60% performance of H100, built with a 7nm node process. For comparison, both Hopper and Blackwell accelerators are built with TSMC's 4nm process, enabling greater transistor density for more computational power. Just on time for even stricter export control, Huawei's Ascend 910C chips are purportedly set for mass volume production this May. In the next phase of AI scaling, Ascend 910D is still not competing with Nvidia's H200 or B200, but is sandwiched between H100 and H200. Is China's AI Chip Self-Reliance Inevitable? China still has trouble with the mass deployment of AI chips at scale. To deploy Ascend 910C, which combines two Ascend 910B dies, Huawei had to erect a number of shell companies to fool TSMC (NYSE: TSM) into manufacturing them, which was first exposed by The Information. It is clear that China is in the intermediary period where large smuggling networks are needed to neutralize the Commerce Department's chip restrictions. Long-term, however, China created its own AI industrial complex by combining the efforts of Huawei as chip designer, SMIC as chip manufacturer, and CXMT/XMT as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) manufacturer. According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), it also appears that China stockpiled over a year's worth of HBM supply. In other words, China has to build up its own ecosystem of cutting-edge chip companies. The US relies on its hegemonic power to control Taiwan's TSMC as well as South Korea's SK Hynix for HBM needs. And all three chip designers, Nvidia, AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), and Intel, are headquartered in California. As both Intel and TSMC work on deploying chips using the 2nm node process this year, China is still one generation behind, looking to launch 5nm tech instead. Of course, the US also has leverage against Dutch ASML Holding (AS:ASML), which makes it difficult for China to deploy the most advanced chip-making equipment. Yet, a recent report from William Huo suggests that China's SMIC can deploy 5nm chips regardless. Based on these trends of China's advance, it is reasonable to assume that any export chip controls against China will be neutralized by 2030. In the meantime, China can use its 90% hold on rare minerals refining, used in delicate electronics, as a powerful leverage. *** Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult our website policy prior to making financial decisions.
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Huawei unveils its most powerful AI chip, the Ascend 920, in response to US export restrictions on Nvidia's chips to China. This development could reshape the global AI chip market and intensify technological competition between the US and China.
In a significant development for the global AI chip market, Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence processor, the Ascend 920. This move comes in direct response to the United States' tightening restrictions on AI chip exports to China, particularly affecting Nvidia's products 1.
The Ascend 920, set to enter mass production in the second half of 2025, boasts impressive specifications:
Huawei claims the new chip improves training efficiency by 30% to 40% compared to its predecessor and is optimized for Transformer and Mixture of Experts models 5.
The timing of Huawei's announcement is noteworthy, coming just a day after the US announced further restrictions on AI chip exports to China 5. This move has significantly impacted Nvidia, with the company expecting to write off $5.5 billion in lost business due to the new export controls 2.
Industry analysts believe that Huawei's Ascend 920 could effectively bridge the gap left by the restricted Nvidia H20 chip in the Chinese market. Major Chinese tech companies like Tencent and ByteDance are likely to welcome this alternative 5.
Alongside the Ascend 920, Huawei has also introduced the AI CloudMatrix 384 Supernode solution. This rack-scale platform, described as a 'Nuclear-level product', reportedly outperforms Nvidia's GB200 in key metrics 2:
However, it's worth noting that the CloudMatrix 384 consumes more power than Nvidia's solutions, which is not considered a major concern in China 5.
This development underscores the ongoing technological competition between the United States and China. As US export controls tighten, Chinese companies like Huawei are accelerating their chip development efforts to help domestic tech firms compete globally 2.
The success of Huawei's new AI chips could potentially reshape the global AI chip market, reducing China's dependence on US technology and intensifying the technological rivalry between the two nations 3.
As the situation continues to evolve, the global tech industry will be closely watching the performance and adoption of Huawei's new AI chips, as well as any further policy developments that may impact the international AI chip market.
Reference
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Financial Times News
|Huawei delivers advanced AI chip 'cluster' to Chinese clients cut off from Nvidia[4]
Huawei prepares to test its new Ascend 910D AI chip, aiming to match NVIDIA's H100 performance, as Chinese tech giants stockpile GPUs before US export bans.
21 Sources
21 Sources
Huawei is making strategic moves to capture a larger share of China's AI chip market, currently dominated by Nvidia. The company is focusing on inference tasks and helping local firms adapt Nvidia-trained AI models to run on Huawei's Ascend chips.
2 Sources
2 Sources
Chinese tech giant Huawei is set to release a new artificial intelligence chip, aiming to compete with Nvidia in the Chinese market. This move comes as Huawei navigates US sanctions and seeks to establish itself in the AI hardware sector.
7 Sources
7 Sources
Nvidia faces a $5.5 billion charge due to new U.S. export restrictions on its AI chips to China, potentially benefiting Chinese competitors like Huawei.
37 Sources
37 Sources
Huawei has begun sampling its new Ascend 910C AI chip to major Chinese tech companies, positioning itself as a potential alternative to NVIDIA in the face of US trade restrictions. This move signals China's push for technological self-reliance in the AI chip market.
5 Sources
5 Sources
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