Huawei set to unveil new AI chips as it challenges Nvidia in China

The Ascend 960 chips are expected to be commercially available in 2027 as Huawei seeks to expand its AI hardware footprint despite US export restrictions

Huawei Technologies Co. is set to unveil new AI technology this week in defiance of US export control curbs, advancing its ambition to replace Nvidia Corp. in China and compete on the global stage.

Huawei’s rotating chairman Wang Tao will present its upcoming Ascend 960 AI chips, to be commercially available in 2027, at the company’s annual summit in Shanghai on Thursday.

Some critical details that analysts will watch out for include whether the new component will be powerful enough for training frontier AI models.

Huawei’s goal is to ensure its Ascend chips can operate every single AI model, in China and beyond, Chairman Guo Ping of the company’s supervisory board told new hires at an internal meeting earlier this month.

“We are closing the gap by innovating chip architectures,” Guo said. “Apple was not a leader in making processors at the beginning, but they delivered exceptional user experience through architecture redesigns and software optimisation.”