TECH NEWS – This is precisely the scenario that Nvidia warned us about. Huawei is emerging as something of an intruder.
The company is reportedly seeking to offer its Ascend AI chips to companies outside of China, thereby expanding the influence of Chinese technology. Huawei is the largest Chinese manufacturer in the field of AI infrastructure, in terms of both the size of its IT portfolio and its manufacturing capacity. Huawei’s Ascend AI chips are the most widely used among Chinese hyperscalers, especially since Beijing imposed restrictions on Nvidia AI hardware. According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency (YNA), Huawei plans to offer its Ascend portfolio to Korean customers after China, aiming to provide an alternative to Nvidia. Huawei Korea plans to officially launch AI computing cards and data center solutions next year.
At an official company event, Huawei Korea CEO Wang Balian announced the news and stated that, unlike Nvidia, Huawei will only offer cluster configurations to its Korean customers, including network and storage infrastructure. Huawei claims customers will receive complete, end-to-end solutions, suggesting the move is aimed at those without access to Nvidia hardware who need an alternative.
Interestingly, Huawei will offer its top-of-the-line Ascend 950 chip directly to Korean customers in two versions: the 950PR and the 950DT. Both chips integrate Huawei’s proprietary HBM, and the Chinese tech giant will likely offer cluster-based configurations of the Atlas SuperPod models. According to Huawei’s official announcement, these clusters compete with Nvidia’s Rubin product line. This means that Korean customers will receive the most advanced technology from Huawei.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly discussed how companies like Huawei plan to expand their influence in the global market by using a similar strategy to the one the company employed with 5G network technology. Huang refers to this as China’s Belt & Road Initiative with a focus on AI, and it appears to be coming to fruition. The only remaining concern for the Chinese tech giant is whether it has sufficient production capacity to meet global demand.
