Huawei wins $22m computing power platform deal from China Mobile

China Mobile Guangdong has awarded a 155 million yuan (US$22 million) contract to Huawei for a computing power service support platform.

The project aims to develop a large-scale computing platform using Huawei’s Ascend 910C chips, Tiangong architecture, and Lingqu interconnect bus, with computing performance of 160 exaFLOPS (FP16).

The storage system will combine OceanStor A800 for high-performance needs and OceanStor Pacific 9550 for high-capacity storage, integrating hardware and software.

The project highlights ongoing efforts to advance domestically developed computing technologies in China, with an emphasis on reducing reliance on imported equipment.

🔗 Source: TechNode

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Huawei is leaning on system design, not leading-edge chips

U.S. sanctions block Huawei from the most advanced chip manufacturing. Its Ascend 910C chips trail top-tier Nvidia models on single-chip performance and efficiency 1.
Huawei counters with large clusters that connect hundreds or thousands of less advanced chips using proprietary high-speed interconnects 1.
The China Mobile Guangdong contract follows that approach. The platform uses Ascend 910C chips plus Tiangong architecture and the Lingqu interconnect bus to build a large-scale computing platform for China Mobile Guangdong’s computing power service support platform, with a 160 exaFLOPS (FP16) target 2.
This system-first method fits China’s push for technological self-reliance. It favors domestic control and supply chain control over raw power efficiency 1, 3.

China is building a national computing-power grid for AI

The China Mobile Guangdong platform functions as one node in a state-led National Integrated Computing Power Network (NICPN) effort 3.
The NICPN plan pulls together computing resources across regions, including domestic chip infrastructure and, where available, stockpiled U.S. chips, into a shared grid similar to an electrical network 3.
The program treats compute as an interchangeable service that can be assigned on demand. Peng Cheng Laboratory (PCL, a Shenzhen-based research institute focused on advanced computing and AI) director Gao Wen compared the goal to making compute “like today’s electricity” 3.
China Mobile Guangdong’s project excludes imported equipment, which helps build demand for domestic hardware. Separately, Huawei said it is expanding the Ascend software ecosystem through open-source work around CANN (Compute Architecture for Neural Networks, Huawei’s AI software stack for running models on Ascend chips) 2, 4.