(Reuters) – China's Huawei Technologies is close to introducing new artificial intelligence (AI) chips to compete with Nvidia in China following U.S. sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
Huawei's latest processor, the Ascend 910C, has reportedly been tested by Chinese internet and telecommunications companies in recent weeks, and Huawei has told potential customers that the chip is comparable to Nvidia's H100.
Huawei did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U.S. regulators introduced rules last year to ban Nvidia from selling advanced chips, including the H100, to Chinese customers, citing national security concerns.
NVIDIA subsequently launched three chips customized for China, including the most notable one, the H20 chip, but due to US sanctions, the H20's computing power was significantly limited compared to the H100 chip.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Huawei plans to start shipping its newest chips as soon as October.
Companies including TikTok's parent company ByteDance, Baidu and China Mobile are in talks to acquire the 910C chip.
According to reports, early negotiations between Huawei and potential customers indicate that orders are likely to exceed 70,000 units, with a total value of around $2 billion.
(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyuru)
