Huawei Unveils Three-Year AI Chip Roadmap as Nvidia Faces Setbacks in China
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Signage for Huawei Technologies at the company’s booth at the MWC Shanghai tech show in Shanghai on June 19, 2025. Photo: Bloomberg
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on Thursday unveiled an ambitious roadmap for new artificial intelligence hardware, challenging Nvidia Corp.’s dominance with a plan to launch four advanced chips by 2028 as the U.S. firm faces mounting pressure in China.
At its annual All-Connect Conference, rotating chairman Xu Zhijun announced that Huawei will release the Ascend 950 PR chip in the first quarter of 2026, followed by the 950 DT in late 2026, the 960 in late 2027, and the 970 in late 2028.
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- Huawei unveiled a roadmap to launch four advanced Ascend AI chips by 2028, aiming to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in China.
- The upcoming Atlas 950 cluster will use over 8,000 Ascend 950 DT chips and is projected to outperform Nvidia’s NVL144 in compute, memory, and bandwidth.
- Huawei will open source its CANN platform by end-2025 to boost adoption but still faces efficiency issues due to restricted access to cutting-edge chip manufacturing.
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Who’s Who
- Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
- Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is challenging Nvidia's AI hardware dominance with an ambitious roadmap for new chips. They plan to launch four advanced chips by 2028: the Ascend 950 PR, 950 DT, 960, and 970. Huawei also announced new Kunpeng server processors and large-scale supercomputing clusters, aiming to overcome U.S. sanctions and boost domestic supply.
- Nvidia Corp.
- Nvidia Corp. is currently the dominant player in AI hardware globally, but its market position in China is weakening. The company faces increased pressure due to Chinese regulators' scrutiny over security concerns and an antitrust investigation. As a result, Chinese cloud providers are exploring domestic alternatives, and Huawei aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance with its ambitious roadmap for new AI chips.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) was mentioned as having been the subject of U.S. sanctions in 2020, which cut off Huawei from access to their services. This constraint impacted Chinese chipmakers and necessitated the domestic production of chips in mainland China.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd. is a Chinese cloud provider that has reportedly cooled on Nvidia's H20 chip following an investigation by China's antitrust regulator. They are now exploring domestic alternatives for AI chips.
- Cambricon Technologies Corp. Ltd.
- Cambricon Technologies Corp. Ltd. is a Chinese semiconductor company that designs AI chips. It is mentioned as a competitor to Huawei in the domestic AI chip market. Cambricon offers AI chips compatible with Nvidia's CUDA software ecosystem, potentially making them more accessible to developers compared to Huawei's in-house CANN platform.
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What Happened When
- 2018：
- Huawei launched its Ascend series, beginning with the Ascend 910 chip.
- 2020：
- U.S. sanctions cut Huawei off from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., constraining Chinese chipmakers.
- 2021–2025：
- Four-year gap before the unveiling of the high-end Kirin 9020 processor for the Mate XTs smartphone.
- March 2025：
- Huawei launched the Atlas 900 cluster, linking 384 Ascend 910C chips.
- July 2025：
- Chinese regulators summoned Nvidia over security concerns tied to its H20 chip.
- July 2025：
- China’s antitrust regulator opened an investigation into Nvidia.
- September 18, 2025：
- Huawei unveiled an ambitious roadmap for new AI hardware.
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