Amidst escalating tensions in the U.S.-China semiconductor industry, Huawei is reportedly working on a new AI chip called the Ascend 910C. This development appears to be the Chinese tech giant's attempt to compete with NVIDIA's AI processors in the Chinese market. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Huawei has begun testing the Ascend 910C with various Chinese internet and telecom companies to evaluate its performance and capabilities. Notable firms such as ByteDance, Baidu, and China Mobile are said to have received samples of the chip.

Huawei has reportedly informed its clients that the Ascend 910C can match the performance of NVIDIA's H100 chip. The company has been conducting tests for several weeks, suggesting that the new processor is nearing completion. The Wall Street Journal indicates that Huawei could start shipping the chip as early as October 2024. The report also mentions that Huawei and potential customers have discussed orders for over 70,000 chips, potentially worth $2 billion.Huawei's move appears to be an attempt to fill the void left by NVIDIA in China following U.S. export restrictions. While NVIDIA introduced three new chips specifically for the Chinese market, they were reportedly of lower quality and failed to meet industry demands.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA is working on a new China-specific chip called the B20. However, its export to China depends on compliance with U.S. regulations. An analyst from SemiAnalysis research firm speculates that Huawei's Ascend 910C could potentially outperform NVIDIA's B20 processor.

Huawei has not yet provided detailed specifications for the Ascend 910C, but the company previously reported that its predecessor was 80% more efficient than NVIDIA's A100 in AI training tasks and 20% more powerful in certain inference tasks. If the 910C significantly enhances performance, it could represent a major breakthrough for Huawei in the AI chip industry.