Huawei’s Ascend 910C Poised to Challenge NVIDIA’s H100 Dominance in China’s AI Chip Market: A Look at the Rumored Specs

Huawei is about to launch its latest AI accelerator, the Ascend 910C, which has officially entered production, and we have a clearer picture of what it promises to deliver.

Huawei’s Ascend 910C Processing Power Rivals NVIDIA’s H100 in China

The Chinese AI sector is experiencing a major technological shift. The introduction of models like DeepSeek’s R1 has spurred a tremendous demand for increased computing capabilities domestically. Huawei emerges as a significant player in this arena, and its upcoming Ascend 910C chips are poised to intensify the competition. Lennart Heim, a well-known analyst, shared some insights about the 910C chip which indicate that NVIDIA’s H100 may face a formidable competitor within China.

According to recent posts and our sources, the Ascend 910C doesn’t mirror the intricate design of NVIDIA’s counterparts. Instead, Huawei plans to employ dual silicon interposers connected through an organic substrate, a more conventional strategy. Effectively, this integrates two Ascend 910B chips to boost overall performance. Reports suggest the 910C can achieve up to 800 TFLOP/s at FP16 and provide a memory bandwidth of 3.2 TB/s, which closely rivals the H100.

Huawei will harness 7nm technology in collaboration with both TSMC and SMIC. Prior to the implementation of export restrictions, Huawei placed substantial 7nm orders with TSMC, which will significantly contribute to the Ascend 910C’s production. Nevertheless, China’s own SMIC is also expected to play a crucial role, having reached success in 7nm technology, producing up to 50,000 wafers monthly. This volume should sufficiently support Huawei’s ambition to distribute "millions" of these AI chips.

While the Ascend 910C is a notable advancement in China’s AI computing landscape, it’s vital to acknowledge that, globally, Huawei still trails behind, with its computing power lagging by about 10-20 times. Nevertheless, innovative firms like DeepSeek demonstrate that even without maximum computing capabilities, there are ways to stay competitive. Thanks to the abundance of talent in China, the upcoming AI competition is sure to be more intense than ever.