In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the demand for powerful and efficient processors is relentless. Recent research from DeepSeek suggests that Huawei's Ascend 910C AI processor achieves an impressive 60% of the inference performance of Nvidia's H100. This aging chip could play a crucial role in reducing China's reliance on Nvidia GPUs, particularly in the realm of AI inference.
The Huawei HiSilicon Ascend 910C represents a new version of company's Ascend 910 processor, which was initially launched in 2019 for AI training. While the Ascend 910's capabilities may be insufficient for the cost-efficient training of large AI models today the 910C showcases considerable inference prowess.
Inference, the process of using a trained AI model to make predictions on new data, is a critical aspect of AI deployment. While AI training remains a domain where Nvidia maintains its lead, Huawei's Ascend 910C offers a viable alternative for inference tasks.
Despite facing sanctions and limited access to cutting-edge process technologies like those of TSMC, Huawei and SMIC have made strides in AI chip development. Huawei's ability to produce a chip that can compete with Nvidia's A100 and H100 demonstrates the resilience and innovation within China's tech industry. The Ascend 910C utilizes chiplet packaging and contains approximately 53 billion transistors. While the original Ascend 910 compute chiplet was manufactured by TSMC using its N7+ fabrication technology, the Ascend 910C's compute chiplet is produced by SMIC using its 2nd Generation 7nm-class process technology, known as N+2.
It is important to note that DeepSeek's Yuchen Jin pointed out long-term training reliability as a critical weakness of Chinese processors. This is due to Nvidia's well-established hardware and software ecosystem. To compete globally, China must address these challenges and refine its AI computing infrastructure. As AI models continue to evolve, particularly with the convergence towards Transformer architectures, the importance of Nvidia's software ecosystem may diminish, potentially opening doors for alternative solutions like the Ascend 910C.
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Huawei's Ascend 910C represents a significant step forward in China's quest for AI independence. While challenges remain, the 910C's competitive inference performance and the ongoing advancements in China's semiconductor industry suggest a promising future for indigenous AI solutions.
