The U.S. is looking for every loophole that can help Huawei in the advanced chipmaking process. A recent report said that the Biden administration may soon add more Chinese firms to the Entity list, blocking the growth of the chip network in China.

Apart from keeping an eye on China, the U.S. is now investigating other foreign suppliers who can lend a hand to Huawei in semiconductor manufacturing.

Inputs reveal that the U.S. Commerce Department started probing TSMC for chip dealings with Huawei. The investigation is in the early stages and aims to check if the chipmaker has been making any AI or phone chips for Huawei for the time being.

If TSMC is found breaching the U.S. export regulations, it might face huge penalties or even a prohibition on using advanced chipmaking tools or techs temporarily.

Under this investigation, the U.S. authorities have targeted the Mate 60 series’ Kirin 5G 9000s chip and recently developed AI Ascend processor. Both these chipsets significantly contribute to China’s progress in the semiconductor industry.

The Commerce Department inquired TSMC about having any direct or indirect (via different names) chip shipments to Huawei in the past or at present. Investigators are also looking into other related aspects like “know-your-customer checks”.

Issues for TSMC

Further details note that the investigation could trouble TSMC to some extent. The Taiwanese chipmaker is one of the key chipset suppliers for U.S. firms.

Huawei AI chipsets (Image Credits: Huawei)

For instance, Apple and Nvidia mainly rely on TSMC for their processors. Also, the Biden administration was planning a $6.6 billion subsidy for the chipmaker to develop its third fabrication unit in Arizona. However, an investigation could halt benefits for some time.

TSMC responded to this investigation and said that it follows all the U.S. export regulations without fail. Although if there is a problem, then it will take action to guarantee compliance in all possible aspects.

“TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are committed to complying with all applicable regulations. If we have any reason to believe there are issues, we will take prompt action to ensure compliance.”

HuaweiCentral’s Take

The U.S. will try every effort to push back Huawei as done in 2019. But this time, the Chinese OEM is focusing on being self-reliant. A recent report claimed that Huawei Kirin 7nm chip performance can match the level of the 5nm processor of TSMC.

How far the U.S. will stretch this investigation on TSMC chip dealings with Huawei would be worth looking forward to.

U.S. investigates TSMC on chip dealings with Huawei (Image Credits: Huawei/TSMC)

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China Telecom is one of the world’s largest mobile network service providers and the second-largest wireless carrier in China. Besides providing useful services and seamless experiences, it also develops large AI models with advanced capabilities.

The telecom recently developed two large language models that were trained using Chinese AI chips. One of these is TeleChat2-115B while the other one is unnamed.

In a statement, the telecom operator said that its open-source large AI models rely on tens of thousands of domestically produced chips. One of these models has 1 trillion parameters. The effectiveness of AI models mostly depends on the parameter scales.

The AI Institute at China Telecom shared the news via WeChat and further stated: “… the achievement indicates that China has truly realized total self-sufficiency in domestic LLM training.”

China Telecom reportedly chose Huawei AI chips over Nvidia (Image Credits: Huawei)

Huawei AI Chips

China Telecom didn’t reveal the chip supplier’s name. But it has a cooperation with Huawei. Both firms have developed several network solutions that can benefit both operators and consumers, providing a rich and efficient network experience.

Earlier, the telecom operator mentioned that it is making new AI models with Huawei Ascend chips. China has already started sidelining Nvidia and other foreign chipmakers to a greater extent, promoting native suppliers and self-reliance.

This will also help to counter the U.S. sanctions that have been a major hurdle in China’s progress in the chip field. Thus, China Telecom would likely have used Huawei chips for its newly developed AI models over Nvidia and any other U.S. alternative.

Apart from Huawei, another AI chip supplier could be the Cambricon. These companies would have helped China Telecom in building the new AI models with immense efficiency.

Huawei has started sampling the new Ascend 910C chips to some Chinese AI firms. The company is expected to officially introduce the new processor this month. Ascend 910B is expected to extend the Chinese customers for the company in the high-end AI chip market.

China Telecom reportedly chose Huawei AI chips over Nvidia (Image credits: China Telecom)

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ByteDance is a Chinese IT company and the developer of the famous video-sharing platforms: TikTok and Douyin. It also makes large language models like Doubao.

Now a new input says that ByteDance is planning to develop another AI LLM model using Huawei Ascend 910B chips. The news is yet to be confirmed by the company. However, the current ordered chips figure shows that the IT firm may choose Huawei over Nvidia.

Yes, ByteDance has already purchased more than 100000 Huawei Ascend 910B AI chips this year. Due to tight supply and production challenges, the IT company has received 30% of the order as of July 2024. Huawei may soon deliver the left-out order.

Further details state that ByteDance has opted for the Huawei AI chips as an alternative to the Nvidia H20 chips. Following the U.S. restrictions, Nvidia has to serve Chinese firms with low-efficient chips that are good enough to perform but aren’t very reliable. As a result, the Chinese companies turned towards native suppliers.

Companies like ByteDance hope that Huawei and its AI techs are perfect. Even though the Ascend 910B chips aren’t as advanced as Nvidia’s chips. But their performance level and efficiency are far better than the A100 processors (20% more efficient).

On the other hand, using Ascend AI chips will ultimately reduce China’s dependency on foreign chipmakers like Nvidia. Huawei is also making efforts to enhance its chip production and become more efficient in the semiconductor industry.

ByteDance ordered 100000 Huawei Ascend 910B chips to replace Nvidia (Image Credits: Huawei)

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As noted by Bloomberg, Chinese regulators directed local firms and enterprise customers to prohibit Nvidia H20 usage. The H20 is a China-specific chip. It’s a special but low-end version of the Nvidia H800. The chip is used to train AI models.

Following the U.S. ban, Chinese companies relied on Nvidia’s chipsets for AI models and other related technologies. However, China now aims to support its native techs and firms over U.S. products, increasing its self-reliance and economic growth.

Inputs reveal that Chinese regulators like the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a set of new rules under ‘window guidance’. It encourages the firms to switch to local chipmakers and reduce the Nvidia use as far as possible.

Huawei and Cambricon are currently the top AI chipmakers in China. A direct prohibition of Nvidia chips in the region will ultimately help the native chip producers to increase their market share. The aim is to support native AI startups over foreign firms.

People related to the matter say that it’s not possible to completely ban Nvidia chips in the region. Many companies are looking to develop the best AI system which requires foreign processors instead of local options. But the condition is that the Nvidia chips’ usage should be minimal.

Another input notes that Nvidia shares fell to 3.9% ($119.26) by Friday. When asked to the CEO of Nvidia – Jensen Huang about the entire matter, he said:

“The first thing we have to do is comply with whatever policies and regulations that are being imposed. And, meanwhile, do the best we can to compete in the markets that we serve. We have a lot of customers there that depend on us, and we’ll do our best to support them.”

While Chinese chipmakers are readying alternatives to Nvidia’s chips, local companies are stockpiling foreign chips before the U.S. export controls reach a new level. For instance, ByteDance ordered 200000+ Nvidia H20 chips this year worth $2 billion.

Huawei, on the other hand, is also taking major steps in this matter. After months of internal testing, the company is now sending its Ascend 910C AI chip samples to top tech firms, expanding its strength in the AI chip sector. Read More…

It would be worth seeing how the next-gen Huawei AI chips will counterattack Nvidia H20 processors.

China directs local firms to buy Huawei AI chips over Nvidia H20 (Image Credits: Huawei)

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U.S. restrictions have turned many Chinese firms to Huawei in the search for AI chipsets. And ByteDance is no exception to this theory. A new report states that ByteDance plans to develop and train its large language AI model with Huawei chips.

In this AI model-making, the Ascend 910B chips are in consideration. The respective processors can outperform Nvidia’s A100 and claim to offer better GPU performance. It provides 20% more efficient computing power than Nvidia’s chipsets.

The report further notes that ByteDance’s new model will likely be less powerful in computing parameters and capability than its Doubao. Yet it would be efficient.

AI training models need huge amounts of data and a powerful AI chip that can easily manage it. Even though Nvidia premium GPUs are the perfect choice for AI models, the U.S. sanctions forced China to look for other alternatives over Nvidia Chinese chip variants.

ByteDance hasn’t confirmed the news yet. Although three of the persons related to this matter said that the app developer could take this big step to pace ahead in the AI race. Another person said that it’s still unclear if Huawei chips will be used.

Meanwhile, a TikTok spokesperson – Michael Hughes responded on this matter, saying: “The entire premise here is wrong. No new model is being developed.”

Ascend 910B is familiar for its efficiency. Hence, if ByteDance ever prefers making an AI model then it might opt for Huawei’s chips. The company has already ordered 100000 Ascend 910B chips starting this year. But till now, it July received 30000.

This tight supply of Ascend 910B ultimately made ByteDance halt the development of its new AI model. The company has been one of the biggest customers of Huawei’s AI chips. On the other hand, it’s the top user of Nvidia H20 AI processors.

The overall situation regarding the ByteDance partnership with Huawei over a new AI model is quite unclear. However, the matter may soon come into clear light with more details. ByteDance AI model running on Ascend 910B will surely help Huawei reach new heights in the AI chip market.

ByteDance to build new AI model using Huawei chips, says report (Image Credits: Huawei)

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SCMP reports Huawei is testing new AI chips with clients in China including the firms searching for Nvidia alternatives for high-end servers. The Chinese tech giant is packing Ascend 910C chips for large server firms covering hardware testing and configuration.

Nvidia is the most popular AI chip seller in the global AI market including China. However, US sanctions on AI chips have barred the company from selling flagship chipsets to Chinese companies.

Since August 2022, the US restricted Nvidia A100 and H100 exports to China. These two are the most popular AI solutions for large language models and generative AI. The company later modified these two chips to a lower-end version A800 and H800, which got banned in October.

Nvidia has modified its chipsets for Chinese clients and developed H20, L20, and L2 GPUs to comply with US export guidelines and maintain its edge in the Chinese AI market.

Given this opportunity, Huawei started selling Ascend 910B AI chipset last year. It has changed the previous Ascend AI architecture and introduced this new version with various performance improvements to compete against Nvidia’s top sellers.

It also allowed the Chinese company to collect some early customers. However, the next version is expected to widen this reach in the high-end AI chipset market.

Huawei reportedly testing Ascend 910C for the past six months and cooperating with the Chinese tech industry to comply with the specifications as much as possible. Some of these potential customers ByteDance, Baidu, and China Mobile have already received the Ascend 910C chipset for testing.

These companies have placed large numbers of orders for the chip when it goes into production. However, Huawei spilled no beans on this matter and kept the AI chip progress low-key. The report also mentioned that the company could start shipping later this year.

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Despite U.S. restrictions, Huawei is making efforts in the AI chipset field to compete with rivals like Nvidia. The company has been silently working on a new AI chip – Ascend 910C for a long time. The processor will likely go official in the next month.

New Ascend 910C

Ascend 910C will probably act as a strong alternative to the Nvidia B20. It can easily give a tough spot to the H100 chip in performance and efficiency, as per some tests.

With the new AI processor, Huawei aims to fill the gaps in Chinese AI technology. Due to foreign export controls, the company is unable to use advanced equipment to build powerful AI chips. Yet it continued to pace in the AI field with its own techs.

Ascend 910B

On the other hand, the previous AI chips like Ascend 910B claim to edge out Nvidia A100 chips by 20%. It can deliver 80% of Nvidia A100 efficiency for LLMs’ training.

This further indicates the reduction of China’s dependency on US chip producers. Following the ban, Nvidia is restricted from selling high-end chips in China. As a result, it introduced low-efficient AI chips to continue its sales in the region.

Being low-quality processors, the Nvidia chips didn’t satisfy industrial users much. In such scenarios, the upcoming Ascend 910C could be a boon in China.

U.S. Ban: an opportunity?

Huawei also gives credits for its achievements in AI chipset development to the U.S. ban! Yes, the company believes that the U.S. sanctions made it self-reliant in AI technology, computing power, semiconductors, and other high-end solutions.

U.S. authorities blacklisted Huawei from its trade market in 2019 due to security concerns. As a result, the company was unable to access any tech-pack chipmaking tool to build its processors. Though it was a major issue, the ban also did some good to the company.

Improvements ahead!

The new Huawei is more innovative than its previous version. It looks for creative and efficient solutions to build its chips, hardware, and software. Also, these products are mostly free from U.S. components and rely on self-developed parts.

Note that Huawei’s new AI chip is still struggling with certain issues as well as production challenges. However, the constant pace of the company shows that it will soon overcome these obstacles.

Huawei moving forward in AI chipset development to compete with Nvidia (Image Credits: HuaweiCentral)

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During the Huawei Connect 2024 event, the company’s Rotating Chairman Xu Zhijun (Eric Xu) put forth ideas for AI development in the region. He says that Huawei has obtained years of experience by transforming its own intelligent technologies.

Now Huawei will invest more in AI ecosystem expansion to make it accessible for everyone. Not only enterprises but the general public can also enjoy a smarter experience. Eric Xu said:

“In 2024 and over the next five years, Huawei will invest even more into ecosystem development with its partners. The company’s All Intelligence strategy and mission aims to build AI systems that are accessible to every person, home, and organization.”

Despite U.S. sanctions and trade challenges, the company is seeking new ways to expand its revenue with new products and smart AI solutions. The tech giant is shaking hands with more industrial customers to pace with the growing AI demands.

The U.S. has tried to halt Huawei and China from growing in advanced chip and AI fields. Yet the OEM developed two computing businesses (Kunpeng and Ascend) in the past five years to meet AI changes and fulfill related requirements.

Huawei Rotating Chairman – Xu Zhijun (Eric Xu) [Image Credits: Huawei)

The Ascend and AI model services offer real-time access to on-demand AI computing power and provide more efficient as well as reliable model training.

Now the company looks forward to more breakthroughs in the AI field with cloud services. According to Xu, these are the best option for many firms who wants to integrate AI into their businesses. It also looking to use the available chipmaking technologies to meet new AI goals. Read More…

Huawei’s strong foothold in the AI field will also help the company to compete with its rivals like Nvidia in China.

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Financial Times notes that many Huawei customers complained about the buggy performance of Ascend AI chips, resulting in stability issues. An AI engineer stated that the processor frequently crashes leading to difficult and unstable work.

A major reason behind the stability issues of Huawei AI chips is its buggy software called “Cann”. The Huawei-developed software launched as an alternative to Nvidia’s Cuda. It was expected to help in enhancing the chip performance for developers.

But it seems the software has run into a strange bug that caused the AI chip to perform poorly in various training models. It also showed a slower inter-chip connection. Several Huawei employees also poured out their opinions and said:

“When random errors occur, it is very difficult to find out where it comes from due to poor documentation. You need talented developers to read the source code to see what the issue is, which slows everything down. The coding is imperfect.”

A Huawei researcher mentioned that bad results are a part of the journey and mostly occur when developers have the least knowledge of how the hardware works.

Stability issues hold back Huawei AI chips to outpace Nvidia: Report (Image Credits: Huawei)

Even after several attempts, the AI chip performance remained the same for developers. An AI engineer said that Huawei AI chips still lagged far from Nvidia due to stability problems. They aren’t contributing well to the initial training of models.

Solution:

Good news is that Huawei has started sending engineers that can help its customers to tackle the problem. The report reveals that experienced developers transfer the training code written on Cuda into Cann to ease the overall operation.

Baidu, Tencent, and iFlytek are the major companies that now have a new team of engineers to solve the AI chip-related problems. On this matter, a tech analyst said:

“Huawei’s advantage over Nvidia is it can work closely with its customers. Unlike Nvidia, it has a large team of engineers to help solve clients’ problems and get them to transition to their hardware.”

Apart from sending teams, the company also opened an online portal that can help customers with constant services and feedback to improve its buggy software.

The Chinese tech giant has a huge workforce that can help it resolve the AI chip problem to some extent. However, the overall scenario suggests that Huawei AI chips still have room for improvement. To hold back Nvidia, China needs more strength and technical support.

Huawei AI chipsets (Image Credits: Huawei)

[Source – Financial Times]

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Huawei reportedly prepared an Ascend 910C AI chip to showdown against Nvidia in the Chinese market. The company has been working on this new product for months. Now it is seemingly ready and may jump onto the chipset battleground by October.

Amid ongoing chip tensions between the U.S. and China, Huawei’s new chip seems a tough move towards Nvidia. The foreign chipset maker is already struggling in China due to its low-end chips. And Huawei’s upcoming SoC could worsen the situation.

Nvidia’s value in China

The U.S. trade controls on China have also prohibited Nvidia from selling advanced AI processors in the region. As a result, the company did sell new chips in the Chinese market but with low computing power which didn’t attract consumers much.

Perhaps Huawei built an alternative that can help the Chinese companies in two ways. Firstly, it will reduce the dependency on foreign stuff. Secondly, it is far more reliable and efficient than the recently launched Nvidia chips in the Chinese consumer market.

Ascend 910C

Ascend 910C is the upgraded form of Ascend 910B. The Chinese internet as well as some telecoms tested the chipset. From the results, it appeared that Huawei’s new AI processor can easily match the Nvidia H100’s performance under various conditions.

The Chinese OEM will likely start shipping the Ascend 910C by October this year. Ahead of its release, the chipset already surpassed 70000 units in orders from customers like ByteDance, Baidu, and China Mobile. The order is worth $2 billion.

Huawei Ascend 910 AI chip (Image Credits: Huawei)

Nvidia vs Huawei

The U.S. chipmaker introduced various chips in China. One of these is the H20 AI processor. But to comply with the U.S. trade regulations, the OEM made it enfeebled. As a result, it didn’t meet consumers or performance demands in the region.

As of now, the company is developing B20 which is said to have double the power of H20. However, things might prove in vain if Ascend 910C is comparable to H100.

Huawei is still struggling with problems like production delays and supply chain mismanagement. After the U.S. sanctions hit the company in 2019, it took a lot of time to stand again and regain its momentum in the market. But things are gradually improving.

The Chinese OEM not only improved its smartphone and tablet ranking in the home ground but also regained some value in the global market. It even bolstered its R&D sector to build more powerful chipsets. With all these changes, it seems Huawei is ready to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in the AI chip market.

Huawei set to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in AI chip market (Image Credits: Huawei)

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