China's Homegrown AI Chip Push Gains Momentum with Huawei's Accelerated Release Schedule

Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market has been unchallenged for years. The company's powerful GPUs and other AI chips have set the standard, but they were unavailable to Chinese customers due to U.S. export controls.

This created an uneven playing field that benefited Nvidia's main Chinese rival, Huawei. An announcement from Huawei today may indicate it's about to make a serious play for Nvidia's crown.

Huawei has been working to improve its Ascend 950 line of chips, but they still trail behind Nvidia's Blackwell line in terms of raw computing power. However, the company is accelerating the release schedule of its new Ascend 960DT and 960PR chips, with the former now set for release in Q1 2027 instead of Q4 2027.

The next two Ascend generations, the 970 and 980, will be released in 2028 and 2029, respectively. While Huawei's advances are significant, they won't have an immediate impact on Nvidia's finances due to the export controls. However, if Huawei can scale up production and improve its chips' performance faster than Nvidia, it could become a major thorn in Nvidia's side over the long term.