London, November 21. Chinese tech giant Huawei plans to start mass production of its latest artificial intelligence (AI) chips, the Ascend 910C, in early 2025, despite U.S. restrictions on semiconductor supplies to China. The company has already sent samples to partners and begun accepting orders.
According to sources, the Ascend 910C chip is expected to compete with products from U.S. rival Nvidia. The manufacturing of these chips is contracted to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, a leading chip producer in China.
On September 20, Wu Hailun, head of the China Public Diplomacy Association, stated that China aims to become the largest chip supplier in the global market by 2030, driven by its own scientific innovations in response to U.S. technology restrictions. He noted that chip exports from China exceeded 500 billion yuan (approximately $71 billion) in the first half of 2024, marking a 26% annual increase.
In October 2022, the U.S. implemented measures to curb China's technological progress by limiting the export of advanced chips and related equipment. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that these sanctions have resulted in a $130 billion drop in market value for American companies. Major U.S. chip equipment manufacturers believe that current U.S. policies harm American firms without slowing down the advancement of Chinese technology.