Unprecedented US crackdown drags Huawei chips into the light

The US Commerce Department is threatening legal action against anyone, anywhere, who uses Huawei's Ascend chips. The new rules have focused attention on the top-secret products developed by Huawei.

On May 13, the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) warned of the risks of using Huawei chips because their development and production "likely" violate US export controls. The bureau threatened law enforcement, from jail to fines for violating businesses.

This is the first time an official US government document has specifically named Huawei Ascend chips. Huawei has not commented on this guidance.

The Shenzhen-based company has always been tight-lipped about its AI chips, with public information only coming from parties that analyze and dissect the devices.

Huawei always keeps information about its self-developed chips secret. Photo: Bloomberg

Huawei’s importance in China’s AI sector stems from its ability to produce advanced chips that rival Nvidia in performance, reducing its reliance on imported AI chips to develop models like DeepSeek.

Earlier this month, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called Huawei “one of the most formidable technology companies in the world ,” while also commenting that China is “not behind” in AI.

Previously, in its annual report submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February, Nvidia listed Huawei as a competitor. This is the second consecutive year Huawei has been on the list. Nvidia considers Huawei a competitor in four out of five categories, including chips, cloud services, computing processing, and networking products.

Experts say Washington’s new guidelines are essentially forcing global businesses to choose a side – the US or China. This will widen the technological gap between the world’s two largest economies . Chim Lee, a senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), said it could be incorporated into ongoing trade negotiations.

Huawei introduced its first AI chip – the Ascend 910 – in 2019. Amid the US embargo, the company decided to stop officially announcing information about this chip line, including release date, production schedule, manufacturing technology. The chips named in the latest US restrictions – the Ascend 910C and 910D – have never been confirmed by the company.

According to some test results, the Huawei Ascend 910B chip achieves 80% of the performance of the Nvidia 100 chip when training large language models, but in some other tests it can outperform by 20%. Huawei is said to be looking to mass produce the 910C chip, and the 910D product sample has been sent to customers for review.

Media reports also said Huawei is preparing to mass produce its new Ascend 920 chip later this year, using a 6nm process. Analysts said it could replace the Nvidia H20, which has been banned from being sold in China.

Huawei is rushing to build a "chip fortress" in China

Huawei is building a state-of-the-art chip production line as part of a network of semiconductor factories in Shenzhen, China, according to the Financial Times . The factories demonstrate Huawei's ambition to become a leader in semiconductors, strengthening China's efforts in emerging technology areas such as AI.

The three factories are close to the chip foundries of Pengxinwei (PXW) and Shenzhen Pensun (PST), two names that the US has accused of being linked to Huawei. The source said Huawei also invested in manufacturing plants in Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao.

Satellite images obtained by the Financial Times show that factories in Guanlan, with their distinctive style, have expanded rapidly since construction began in 2022.

Dylan Patel, founder of chip consultancy SemiAnalysis, said Huawei has put an unprecedented effort into developing every part of its domestic AI supply chain, from wafer fabrication equipment to model development. “We’ve never seen a company like this before,” said Dylan Patel, founder of chip consultancy SemiAnalysis.

(According to MSN, FT)

China brings AI to schools, determined to "compete" with the US as a technology superpower. According to the new policy, Chinese students must be taught AI for at least 8 hours a year. Lessons will be integrated into subjects such as math, science, computer science or as a separate subject, depending on the resources of each school.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cuoc-tran-ap-chua-tung-co-cua-my-loi-nhung-con-chip-huawei-ra-ngoai-anh-sang-2401303.html