Huawei continues pushing forward in the tech industry amid severe trade restrictions by the United States. The company, which designs its own mobile SoCs, has been doing the same with AI chips for a while now. Now, a report claims that Huawei will begin mass production of the Ascend 910C, its next-gen AI chip, in early 2025.
Controversy surrounding Huawei and AI hardware
Huawei has been treading on shaky ground regarding the AI chip segment. Recently, researchers found chips produced by TSMC in Huawei’s AI accelerators. This suggests that the company has been looking for effective ways to circumvent some of the current trade restrictions. Huawei could have turned to third parties such as Pengxinxu and SwaySure Technology for this. While both Washington and TSMC are investigating the situation, a report claims that the discovery will lead the latter to stop producing AI chips for Chinese companies.
Trade restrictions have pushed Huawei to become more autonomous when it comes to chip design and development. Although the company’s use of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip in the Huawei P60 series sent positive signals to the industry, license revocations and the need to prepare for potential new restrictions led them to keep developing Kirin processors. The same is happening with AI chips, as Huawei cannot purchase them from NVIDIA.
Huawei reportedly ready to produce its next AI chips in 2025
That said, as reported by Reuters, Huawei maintains its plans to produce its next-gen AI chip in early 2025. However, this does not mean that Huawei is unaffected by the increasing trade restrictions. Being unable to access TSMC or Samsung factories, the company is forced to turn to SMIC, whose technology is not on par with that of its competitors. Indeed, the Chinese giant may be reliant on the outdated 7nm process for its upcoming mobile SoCs and AI chips.
The US restrictions also limit access to the latest lithography tools. This translates into an even lower yield rate on SMIC wafers. Industry sources revealed that the yield rate of SMIC’s factories is only around 20%. However, Huawei continues to take strategic orders, prioritizing government and corporate clients. Meanwhile, Kirin chips will keep powering flagship smartphones like the upcoming Huawei Mate 70 series.
