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Huawei Accelerates Chip Race Against Nvidia
18 Sep
Summary
- Huawei advances AI chip release by nine months.
- New chips target domestic China market exclusively.
- Nvidia faces long-term competition, not immediate threat.
Huawei has announced a significant acceleration of its AI chip development schedule, aiming to compete more aggressively in the artificial intelligence hardware sector. The company's Ascend 960DT AI chip, originally slated for a Q4 2027 release, is now expected in Q1 2027, nine months ahead of schedule. A companion chip, the Ascend 960PR, will launch in Q3 2027, three months earlier than previously planned.
Future generations, Ascend 970 and 980, are slated for 2028 and 2029, with anticipated doubling of computing power for each release. Huawei has stated these chips will be exclusively supplied to China's domestic market, indicating no immediate plans for international expansion due to existing capacity constraints. This strategic move by Huawei, driven partly by U.S. export controls impacting Nvidia's sales in China, positions the company as a potential long-term competitor.
While Huawei's current chips do not match Nvidia's high-end offerings, the accelerated timeline and future advancements pose a potential challenge to Nvidia's market leadership. For Nvidia investors, this development is viewed as a long-term concern rather than an immediate financial threat. Nvidia previously reported significant losses due to excess inventory of its China-specific H20 chip after new U.S. export controls were announced in June 2025, which also banned the H20.
