Huawei is reportedly preparing a new graphics chip that is expected to rival Nvidia’s popular H100 and is set to be launched later this year.
Known as the Ascend 910C, it is the successor to Huawei’s Ascend 910B and is currently undergoing testing by Chinese internet and telecom companies, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The previous Ascend 910B, introduced as early as 2022, is said to match the speed of Nvidia’s A100 from 2020. With performance levels comparable to Nvidia’s H100, the Ascend 910C represents a significant advancement.
According to anonymous sources in the report, companies like Baidu, China Mobile, and ByteDance (owner of TikTok) have shown interest in acquiring the Ascend 910C chips. Huawei has reportedly received over 70,000 orders for the 910C, amounting to approximately two billion dollars.
However, development of Huawei’s new graphics processor has faced challenges due to sanctions imposed by the US government, leading to delays. Huawei is grappling with issues such as limited access to advanced process nodes, the inability to procure chipmaking tools from companies like ASML, and the inability to legally import high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, especially crucial for a datacenter GPU.
In an effort to address these challenges, Huawei is constructing a facility to develop and manufacture chipmaking equipment within China. Additionally, the company has joined forces with other Chinese semiconductor firms to domestically produce HBM chips.
In the immediate future, these obstacles may result in a delay of the Ascend 910C beyond October, potentially leading to alterations in its specifications.
The Ascend 910C is poised to compete directly with Nvidia’s H20, released earlier this year to replace the banned H800 in China. The H20’s graphics chip features 96 GB of HBM3 memory and 4 TBps of bandwidth, essential for AI applications such as large language models (LLMs).
Nvidia is also working on the B20 based on Blackwell, while Intel has introduced its Gaudi 3 processors tailored for the Chinese market.
If Huawei’s Ascend 910C can match the performance of the H100, it would give the company a significant edge in graphics capabilities. Coupled with ample fast HBM chips, it could also prove to be a compelling choice for AI applications. Nvidia is reportedly facing challenges in China with its H20, which has already seen price reductions.
The Register has reached out to Huawei for comment. ®
