Huawei Technologies (Huawei) will begin large-scale shipments of its artificial intelligence (AI) chip, the 910C, to Chinese customers in May.
This move follows the U.S. government’s implementation of export controls on NVIDIA’s H20 chip to China. Some shipments have already commenced.
The U.S. government’s recent mandate requiring NVIDIA to obtain permission for H20 chip exports to China has positioned Huawei’s 910C as a promising alternative for Chinese AI development firms.
The 910C is a GPU that combines two existing 910B chips into a single package. Rather than introducing radical innovations, it focuses on enhancing performance through structural improvements. Industry insiders report that its computational capabilities are comparable to NVIDIA’s H100. The new chip also boasts increased memory capacity and expanded AI data processing capabilities compared to its predecessors.
Sources indicate that Huawei has been distributing 910C samples to various tech companies since last year.
Reuters reports that China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) manufactures some key components of the 910C using a 7-nanometer process, albeit with low production yields. Evidence suggests that some 910C units incorporate semiconductors produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for Sophgo. The U.S. Department of Commerce has launched an investigation into these developments.