Huawei’s Ascend 910C set to Challenge Nvidia's H100 despite US Sanctions

The Digital Artisan -

Huawei's New Promise in Graphics Processor

Huawei is gearing up to launch a graphics chip that could match the performance of Nvidia's renowned H100. This ambitious project, termed the Ascend 910C, is a successor to Huawei's Ascend 910B and is currently under testing by various Chinese internet and telecom firms, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Rising Demand for Ascend 910C

Ascend 910B, which was introduced as early as 2022, is known to be as efficient as Nvidia's 2020 A100. With H100 level performance, Ascend 910C promises to be an appreciable step up. Large corporations such as Baidu, China Mobile, and ByteDance have shown significant interest in acquiring the Ascend 910C chips. Huawei has secured an estimated 70,000 orders for the 910C, accounting for two billion dollars.

Challenges due to US Sanctions

However, Huawei has faced difficulties in developing its new graphics processor due to US government's sanctions, which have induced delays. Huawei has been grappling with issues such as lack of access to advanced process nodes and inability to acquire chip-making tools from firms like ASML. Moreover, due to legal boundaries, they are unable to import high bandwidth memory chips.

Huawei's Innovative Approach to Overcome Challenges

Huawei is navigating these obstacles by developing and producing chip-making equipment in China itself and forming alliances with other Chinese semiconductor companies to domestically produce HBM chips. However, the immediate impact of these problems might force Huawei to delay the launch of Ascend 910C beyond October or alter its specifications downwards.

Competitors and Market View

Once launched, Ascend 910C will mainly compete with Nvidia's H20, which was introduced earlier in 2024. H20, while impressive, does not match up to the H100 in terms of graphics chip capacity. Another player in the competition will be Intel's made for China Gaudi 3 processors. If the Ascend 910C achieves its aim of catching up to the H100, Huawei will secure a significant position in terms of raw graphics prowess.