Unveiling Huawei's Chip Game Plan: Taking the Long View
Huawei's Founder Criticizes Own Chip Technology
Snubbing the spotlight of lofty expectations, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has acknowledged the company's chips still trail their American counterparts by a generation. But don't be fooled—the Chinese giant hasn't given up the game yet.
In an interview with the People's Daily, Ren didn't mince words, claiming rampant overhyping by the US, asserting that "many companies in China" are excelling in chip development, with Huawei being just one of the contenders.
Climbing the Chip Hills: Scaling and Clustering
As trade talks between China and the US unfolded in London, Ren's candid interview made waves amidst discussions on trade barrier elimination. Huawei's strategy to tackle technical shortcomings is a multi-faceted one: cluster-bundling chips to amplify total computing power and put a premium on system-level innovation.
Huawei's flagship system, the CloudMatrix 384, makes good on this strategy, employing 384 Ascend 910C chips, interconnected via an optical mesh network. Despite each chip possibly lagging behind its American counterparts, the scale and interconnectivity contributing to this system outperforms some of NVIDIA's offerings in raw compute power and memory [1][4].
Reclaiming the Ground: Compound Semiconductors and Beyond
Ren also underscored the significance of compound semiconductors and alternative technologies to bypass US sanctions restricting access to advanced chip manufacturing tools [1][5]. By investing in novel technologies, Huawei aims to reclaim lost ground and level the playing field.
Battleground Tech: Nvidia vs. Huawei
While Huawei's innovative approaches have shown resilience in the face of technological restrictions, challenges remain. Forecasts indicate that the company will only manufacture 200,000 Ascend AI chips by 2025, a far cry from Nvidia's broad market reach and production capacity [2].
As the trade saga continues to unfold, the battle for technological superiority between Nvidia and Huawei becomes increasingly heat-seeking as these tech titans scramble to outwit and outperform each other, all whilst tangoing with the geopolitical machinery that governs global tech trade.
[1] https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/341448-huawei-aims-to-leapfrog-nvidia-with-a-homegrown-ai-chip[2] https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/338919-huawei-aims-to-make-up-for-us-sanctions-by-developing-its-own-chips[3] https://www.adWeek.com/digital/ad-week/social-times/huawei-ceo-overhypes-his-companys-chips-though-theyre-generally-behind-u-s-rivals/[4] https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/339603-huawei-says-its-cloudmatrix-384-system-now-outperforms-nvidias-h100[5] https://www.reuters.com/technology/huawei-investing-compound-semiconductors-challenge-us-bans-2021-06-03/
- In an effort to outperform Nvidia and address technology shortcomings, Huawei has implemented a strategy that involves clustering chips to enhance total computing power and prioritizes system-level innovation, demonstrated by their flagship system, the CloudMatrix 384.
- Recognizing the importance of compound semiconductors and alternative technologies, Huawei intends to use these innovations to overcome US sanctions restricting advanced chip manufacturing tools, aiming to level the global tech trade field.
