Huawei plans to release its Ascend 910C AI chips soon, closing the performance gap with NVIDIA. The Chinese company aims to shake up the AI market with technology that competes directly against Western manufacturers.
Research from SemiAnalysis reveals details about Huawei's CloudMatrix 384 AI cluster, which is powered by 384 Ascend chips in an all-to-all configuration. The system achieves this competitive edge through sheer numbers, using five times more chips than NVIDIA's GB200 NVL72 server. The CloudMatrix delivers about 300 PetaFLOPS of BF16 computing power, nearly double what NVIDIA offers, with higher onboard memory capacity.
This solution meets China's need for strong domestic computing without relying on foreign suppliers. The main drawback is the high electricity usage: It consumes almost four times the power of NVIDIA's system with less efficiency per watt. However, Chinese power generation capabilities make this less concerning for local markets.
Huawei designed these systems specifically for Chinese customers who care more about performance than cost or power limits. Production volume remains uncertain since Huawei still depends on international partners like TSMC and Samsung, alongside Chinese suppliers.
NVIDIA faces growing challenges in China due to restrictions implemented during the previous administration. As competition from local companies increases, NVIDIA must find new strategies just as Huawei reaches similar performance levels.
Research from SemiAnalysis reveals details about Huawei's CloudMatrix 384 AI cluster, which is powered by 384 Ascend chips in an all-to-all configuration. The system achieves this competitive edge through sheer numbers, using five times more chips than NVIDIA's GB200 NVL72 server. The CloudMatrix delivers about 300 PetaFLOPS of BF16 computing power, nearly double what NVIDIA offers, with higher onboard memory capacity.
This solution meets China's need for strong domestic computing without relying on foreign suppliers. The main drawback is the high electricity usage: It consumes almost four times the power of NVIDIA's system with less efficiency per watt. However, Chinese power generation capabilities make this less concerning for local markets.
Huawei designed these systems specifically for Chinese customers who care more about performance than cost or power limits. Production volume remains uncertain since Huawei still depends on international partners like TSMC and Samsung, alongside Chinese suppliers.
NVIDIA faces growing challenges in China due to restrictions implemented during the previous administration. As competition from local companies increases, NVIDIA must find new strategies just as Huawei reaches similar performance levels.
