Key Takeaways
- Huawei plans to launch two new AI chips in 2027.
- UnifiedBus will connect large numbers of AI processors.
- U.S. export curbs are driving China’s push for domestic AI chips.
Huawei plans to launch two new Huawei AI Chips in 2027 as U.S. export curbs limit China’s access to advanced Nvidia processors and push Chinese firms toward domestic technology.
Huawei plans two new AI chips
Huawei rotating chairman David Wang says the company will launch its 960DT chip in the first quarter of 2027, followed by the Ascend 960PR in the third quarter.
Wang announced the plans Thursday during a company event in Shanghai, as Huawei expands its artificial intelligence computing business and seeks to compete with Nvidia, the leading U.S. AI chipmaker built around its AI infrastructure business.
The company is also developing technology to connect large numbers of AI chips so they can operate together as a larger computing system. Huawei says its UnifiedBus technology will play a central role in its next generation of AI systems.
Wang says Huawei has developed 11 semiconductors using UnifiedBus technology for large AI computing systems.
Huawei builds larger AI computing systems
Huawei says its largest linked systems, known as superclusters, can support as many as 1 million AI processors.
The company also has shipped more than 1,000 smaller linked systems, known as supernodes, to more than 370 customers, Wang says. Huawei did not identify the customers or provide a breakdown of shipments.
A supernode combines multiple Huawei AI Chips to handle the same computing task. Connecting chips is becoming increasingly important because advanced AI programs often require more processing power than a single processor can provide.
Huawei says UnifiedBus is designed to help chips exchange information and work together more efficiently. The approach could allow Chinese companies to combine larger numbers of domestically available chips as restrictions limit access to some advanced foreign processors.
Wang says Huawei’s AI chip ecosystem currently has 5,270 monthly active developers, highlighting the importance of software and developer support as the company expands its hardware business.
U.S. curbs reshape China’s AI chip market
The United States and China are competing over the chips, data centers and software needed to develop artificial intelligence.
U.S. export controls restrict China’s access to certain advanced computing chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Chinese technology companies and policymakers have responded by placing greater emphasis on domestic alternatives.
The restrictions have helped Huawei emerge as a major Chinese supplier of Huawei AI Chips, but the company faces Nvidia, whose chips and software tools are widely used by AI developers globally.
Huawei’s effort to expand its AI business therefore depends not only on producing processors but also on building an ecosystem that developers and customers can use at scale.
The company’s planned 2027 chips and UnifiedBus systems represent its latest effort to increase domestic AI computing capacity as China’s technology industry adapts to tighter U.S. restrictions, according to a Reuters report.
