China’s quest for technological independence has progressed a long way after Huawei’s remarkable achievement of developing artificial intelligence (AI) chips. China’s IT giant had apparently increased production of its new AI chips, the Ascend 910C, from 20% to more than 40%. Huawei is now in a stronger position to rival foreign chipmakers like Nvidia because this achievement becomes economically feasible for the first time to make such chips. The report is especially good news for the long-term future of the company, since it has been fighting to overcome American trade barriers which restrict its entry to the most advanced semiconductor technology.
With the increased geopolitical tensions and trade restrictions by the US, Huawei’s achievement in increasing the production of AI chips aligns with China’s bolder objective of lessening its reliance on foreign technology. For some years now, the government of China has motivated the nation’s semiconductor industry by making legislation and providing money to local tech firms. With its recent innovations, Huawei is becoming a major contender in China’s race for AI dominance and in creating a robust ecosystem that allows AI-based apps to live on smart devices, cloud computing, and telecommunication.
Huawei has aggressive future plans to produce AI chips. It plans to produce 300,000 units of the 910B variant and 100,000 units of the Ascend 910C CPU by 2025. The expansionist plan is evidence of Huawei’s drive to construct China’s AI capabilities, especially with U.S. sanctions that have impeded Chinese businesses from acquiring sophisticated semiconductor technology. While the increased manufacturing yield is a move in the right direction, Huawei still lags behind the likes of Nvidia when it comes to performance and efficiency. Due in large part to its robust hardware and established software ecosystem that the majority of AI developers use for deep learning applications, Nvidia is still the reigning champion of the AI chip industry.
90 wordsclear Humanize AI Huawei is taking strategic steps to get a stake in the AI business amidst these challenges. To enhance AI performance, the company is focusing on software optimization in addition to building its hardware capability. Huawei is trying to appeal to companies and developers seeking an alternative to Nvidia’s AI products by building an end-to-end AI ecosystem incorporating hardware and software. Moreover, Huawei has a huge customer base because of China’s fast-growing domestic AI business, which can possibly allow it to increase production and become more competitive.
In its efforts to help Huawei and other domestic technology companies achieve technological independence, the Chinese government remains at the forefront. Domestic semiconductor production and artificial intelligence research support policies have enabled companies such as Huawei to grow and evolve further. In addition to being a victory for Huawei, the company’s recent success in manufacturing AI chips is a significant milestone for China’s larger plan to dominate the AI and semiconductor industries. Huawei will probably have more of an impact on AI development in China and beyond as it continues to improve its AI processors and expand its manufacturing capacity.
