Huawei unveils new AI chip tech to rival Nvidia

[BEIJING] Huawei Technologies unveiled its latest solution to bundle more artificial intelligence (AI) chips together and boost computing power in a bid to challenge Nvidia’s technology.

The Shenzhen-based firm’s new SuperPod technology can support linking as many as 15,488 graphic cards containing Huawei’s Ascend-branded AI chips, the company said on Thursday (Sep 18).

The company now also has a super cluster with computing power made up of about one million graphic cards, it said.

China has told its biggest tech companies not to use Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D, a semiconductor for workstations that can be repurposed for AI applications. The move marks Beijing’s latest attempt to wean the country off Nvidia hardware, the gold standard for the AI industry, and boost domestic alternatives.

Huawei’s SuperPod solution appears to be an upgraded effort to compete with Nvidia’s NVLink offering that enables high-speed communications between main chips in a server.

This technology is particularly critical to Huawei’s competitiveness against Nvidia, as the Chinese firm’s most advanced Ascend chip is less powerful than the US rival’s cutting-edge AI silicon.

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To compensate for the less computing power its individual AI chip offers, Huawei has been focusing on creating technology to bundle more semiconductors together in a cluster.

Earlier this year, Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei told state newspaper People’s Daily that Huawei is still lagging behind the US in terms of output from a single chip but “we can still get the results we want by compensating with cluster-based computing”.

Huawei also announced a new lineup of AI chips it will release over the next three years at a company event on Thursday, according to Chinese media. It is planning to launch Ascend 950PR early next year, Ascend 950DT chip in late 2026, Ascend 960 in late 2027, and Ascend 970 in late 2028. BLOOMBERG