Huawei Technologies will roll out its new Ascend 920 artificial intelligence (AI) chip later this year, as the company steps into the role as China’s alternative supplier to US giant Nvidia, which is subject to even tighter US export restrictions, according to media reports and industry insiders.
The Ascend 920, which was at the advanced 6-nanometre node level, is expected to begin mass production in the second half of this year, with analysts saying it could become an alternative to Nvidia’s H20 AI chips that were just banned from sale to China, according to a report by Taiwanese media Digitimes.
A representative from Huawei on Tuesday denied rumors that the company had unveiled the Ascend 920 chips at its annual cloud ecosystem conference in early April, and did not comment on the mass production plan.
Separately, Huawei’s Ascend 910C graphics processing unit (GPU), part of its Ascend 910 series, will go into mass production as early as next month, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Nvidia began selling its tailor-made H20 chips to the Chinese market in early 2024, after its advanced A100, H100, A800 and H800 AI chips were all placed under US export controls due to national security concerns.
