Tech Brief (Sept. 18): Huawei Speeds Up AI Chip Roadmap

Huawei speeds up AI chip roadmap

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has accelerated the rollout of its next-generation AI chips and introduced what it calls the industry’s first “super node” utilizing near-packaged optics (NPO) technology, stepping up efforts to overcome data-transfer bottlenecks in training AI models. Speaking Thursday at the annual Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai, rotating chairman Wang Tao said the Chinese tech giant is aiming to deliver computing clusters that operate logically as a single machine. To meet demand, Huawei has moved up the launch timeline for its Ascend 960 series. The Ascend 960 PR chip — tailored for prefill and recommendation tasks — is now scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2027, three quarters ahead of its original schedule.