Huawei is nipping at the feet of NVIDIA with its new sophisticated artificial intelligence computer, the Ascend 910D. The solution is expected to adversary the US chipmaker’s H100, which has been banned from sales in China since October 2023.
The Chinese technology gigantic is preparing to send samples of Ascend 910D to software companies in late May, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The AI device may be tested for technical feasibility before being released to consumers. The options added that Huawei hopes this latest incarnation of Ascend cards will be even more effective than the H100.
NVIDIA designed H100 to pass the first set of chip-related trade settings on the selling of electronics to China from the US, enabling it to keep customers in the country. However, when a second set was released the following month, the gaps it exploited were closed, and it was forced to stop all sales of H100 to China. The restrictions greatly impacted NVIDIA’s earnings, with China accounting for just 17 % of its revenue in 2024, marking a 9 % drop since 2022, according to MarketWatch.
US tariffs accelerated China ’s shift towards domestic cards
China and the US have continued to employ tit-for-tat import restrictions on electronics and related parts since 2024. US President Donald Trump’s news of mutual taxes on all nations with which the US maintains a trade imbalance marked an extra, unexpected punch to the chip industry.
The taxes are expected to more destroy semiconductor trade with China by raising NVIDIA’s operating costs, which it may eventually move on to consumers. This may force Chinese consumers towards domestic options, such as 910D or its earlier iterations.
Digital products are now free from the 10 % global benchmark tax and larger mutual tariffs imposed on countries with which the US has a business gap. However, Trump has stated that these deductions are transitory and that a custom silicon price may be enforced in the “very near potential. ”
Huawei is gearing up to absorb NVIDIA’s Chinese customers
Huawei intends to deliver over 800,000 Ascend 910B and 910C chips this year to customers like TikTok parent ByteDance and state-owned telecoms, according to the WSJ. Some companies have even requested to boost their 910C orders in response to the US’s new restrictions on sales of NVIDIA’s H20 chip.
The H20 was another China-specific chip designed by NVIDIA to avoid the 2022 export controls. On April 9, the company was informed that it would need a license to sell H20 and equivalent chips to China. They had been growing in popularity to support deploying DeepSeek’s efficient AI models, and NVIDIA estimated the license requirement could cost the company$ 5. 5 billion.
Just as Huawei is now advancing the Ascend 910D to offer an alternative to NVIDIA’s H100, it has accelerated preparations for the release of the Ascend 920 following the announcement of H20 restrictions.
The US is keen to maintain its sovereignty in AI by blocking China from accessing NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art hardware, which is crucial for running advanced models. In addition to financial motivations, the US has also raised concerns about China developing AI for military purposes.
