Yazılar

Huawei unveils chip and computing power roadmap in challenge to Nvidia

/in /tarafından

Huawei on Thursday publicly detailed its long-term semiconductor ambitions for the first time, pledging annual upgrades to its Ascend AI chips and unveiling plans for powerful computing systems designed to rival Nvidia (NVDA.O).

At its annual Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai, rotating chairman Eric Xu said the company will follow a one-year release cycle that doubles computing power with each generation. Huawei also revealed it has developed its own high-bandwidth memory, a technology currently dominated by South Korea’s SK Hynix (000660.KS) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS).

Xu said Huawei’s upcoming Atlas 950 supernode, slated for launch in late 2026, will connect 8,192 Ascend chips, while the Atlas 960 in 2027 will link 15,488 chips. He claimed these systems will “far exceed” competitors on key performance metrics. Huawei will also release new Kunpeng server chips in 2026 and 2028.

The roadmap underscores China’s push to reduce reliance on U.S. suppliers amid intensifying trade and technology tensions. This week, Beijing accused Nvidia of antitrust violations and ordered major Chinese firms to halt purchases of its AI chips, according to the Financial Times. The moves come just before a scheduled meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Huawei first entered chipmaking in 2018 but retreated from public disclosures after U.S. sanctions in 2019 restricted its access to advanced chipmaking tools. Since then, analysts say the company has become a leader in China’s domestic semiconductor push. Its current AI flagship, the Ascend 910C, launched earlier this year, with the Ascend 950 due in 2025, followed by the 960 in 2027 and the 970 in 2028.

Despite these advances, engineers at Chinese tech firms acknowledge Nvidia’s chips remain more powerful. U.S. export controls continue to limit Huawei’s access to cutting-edge manufacturing technology, though Washington recently eased some restrictions on downgraded Nvidia chip sales.

“Huawei is leveraging its networking strengths and China’s power supply advantages to push aggressively into supernodes, offsetting lagging chip manufacturing,” said Wang Shen of Omdia.

Chinese semiconductor stocks rose 3.4% on Thursday after reports of the Nvidia purchase ban. Beijing’s foreign ministry responded cautiously, saying China remains open to dialogue to stabilize global supply chains.

Nvidia spends $900M to hire Enfabrica CEO and license startup’s tech

/in /tarafından

Nvidia (NVDA.O) has spent more than $900 million to bring on Enfabrica CEO Rochan Sankar, along with other employees from the AI hardware startup, while also licensing the company’s technology, CNBC reported Thursday.

The deal, paid in cash and stock, closed last week, and Sankar has already joined Nvidia, according to people familiar with the arrangement.

Enfabrica, based in Silicon Valley, is addressing a major bottleneck in artificial intelligence: how to connect tens of thousands of chips into a network that can operate as a single, unified computer. Without efficient networking, even high-performance chips like Nvidia’s can sit idle while waiting for data. The startup’s technology reportedly enables up to 100,000 AI chips to be linked before network slowdowns occur.

Nvidia declined to comment on the report, and Enfabrica did not immediately respond to inquiries. Founded by former Broadcom (AVGO.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) veterans, Enfabrica has raised $260 million in venture capital and in July launched a chip-and-software system designed to reduce memory costs in data centers.

The move mirrors recent strategies by Big Tech rivals. In June, Meta (META.O) acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI and brought CEO Alexandr Wang into its AI leadership, while Google hired key staff from Windsurf, an AI code generation startup courted by OpenAI.

Beijing ends Google probe, shifts focus to Nvidia in U.S. trade talks

/in /tarafından

China has decided to end its antitrust investigation into Google, signaling a strategic shift as trade negotiations with Washington intensify over TikTok and Nvidia, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The move indicates Beijing is redirecting regulatory pressure toward Nvidia as a bargaining tool in the ongoing trade talks, while closing the Google probe as a gesture of flexibility toward the United States.

According to the report, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, which launched the investigation against Google in February, has dropped the case. The regulator had previously suggested Google might have violated China’s anti-monopoly law but did not provide further details. Google has reportedly not yet been formally notified of the decision.

Earlier this week, Chinese authorities accused Nvidia of breaching anti-monopoly rules following a preliminary review of its business practices. The shift comes amid heightened tensions, with both nations trading tariffs and regulatory measures in recent months. Washington imposed steep tariffs on Chinese goods and threatened to ban TikTok, while Beijing responded with its own tariffs and investigations targeting U.S. tech firms, including Google.