For quite some time, the world of AI computation seemed to be under NVIDIA's monopoly. Their dominance as a primary competition was evident in the past. But the situation is now evolving, and evolving at quite a speed, more so in China. Enter another formidable competitor: Huawei.
Huawei: Not Just Catching Up But Competing with the Best
During a remarkable interview, Huang stated that Huawei wasn't just moving into a position; they are building AI chips and large-scale systems that are comparable with NVIDIA's most cutting-edge offering. This is a serious admission especially with Huawei's stringent navigation through US regulations.
The speed of Huawei's development is also quite jaw-dropping. Huang indicated that the levels of Huawei's technology are, to NVIDIA's understanding, probably equivalent to their H200 AI accelerator-an upper-end product. He pointed at Huawei's "CloudMatrix" system, arguing it is capable of scaling to an even larger scale than NVIDIA's last generation, the Grace Blackwell platform.
Huang said, "Huawei's technology, on the basis of our best understanding at the moment, is probably comparable to an H200... They have been moving quite fast. They have also offered this new system called Cloud Matrix, which scales up to even a larger system than our latest generation, Grace Blackwell. Huawei, as you know, is a formidable technology company. And they're not sitting still."
This is an assertion made by the head of NVIDIA regarding the capabilities of a competitor, not something often heard, especially with such clarity on Huawei's AI prowess. It stands as a signal that Huawei has effectively closed the gap in AI hardware with Western capabilities.
The abilities of Huawei's latest AI chip, the Ascend 910C, are considered to be in direct competition with NVIDIA's H200. Such rapid gains suggest that China was still aiming to bring itself up to speed with NVIDIA's older H100 technology. Clearly a major concern for NVIDIA's commercial prospects in this key Chinese market is the pace at which Huawei innovators are working and produce comparable hardware.
Huang's comments are a testament that things are challenging for NVIDIA out there. With a local vigorous competitor like Huawei delivering such powerful AI solutions, despite all external pressures, the race for AI supremacy in China is witnessing a dramatic escalation.
