Huawei Technologies plans to start mass shipments of its advanced 910C AI chip to Chinese customers as early as May 2025, according to multiple sources.

The 910C is a graphics processing unit (GPU) that serves as a domestic alternative to Nvidia’s H20 chip. The H20 now requires an export license for sales to China due to US trade restrictions.

This new chip is an evolution of Huawei’s earlier 910B model, offering double the computing power and memory capacity by combining two 910B processors into a single package.

Huawei has not confirmed the reported shipment plans or the chip’s specifications.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Export controls accelerate domestic innovation in targeted economies

Huawei’s ability to develop an H100-comparable AI chip demonstrates how export restrictions often accelerate domestic innovation rather than preventing technological progress.

After the US banned China’s access to Nvidia’s H100 chip in 2022, Huawei prioritized developing alternatives, culminating in the 910C that achieves performance comparable to the H100 by combining two 910B processors into a single package 1.

This follows a historical pattern: Huawei significantly expanded its chip development after being placed on the US Entity List, evolving from its first commercial AI chip in 2019 to today’s advanced offerings 2.

DeepSeek’s research showing the Ascend 910C delivers 60% of Nvidia H100 inference performance 1 suggests Chinese alternatives are becoming increasingly viable, potentially undermining the long-term effectiveness of export controls.

2️⃣ The changing economics of the global AI chip market

The fortuitous timing of Huawei’s 910C mass shipments coincides with a fundamental reshaping of China’s AI hardware market, creating an estimated $7 billion opportunity for domestic producers.

Before recent US restrictions, Nvidia dominated approximately 90% of China’s AI accelerator market 3, but this captive market is now being contested by multiple Chinese firms including Huawei, Moore Threads, and Iluvatar CoreX.

The economics significantly favor local providers as Chinese AI companies increasingly prioritize security of supply over marginal performance differences, with government procurement policies reinforcing this shift.

Chinese semiconductor firms have demonstrated remarkable growth in R&D expenditures 4, enabling significant technological progress despite being cut off from advanced foreign technologies.