Why Nvidia investors shouldn’t worry about Huawei’s new AI chip
Chinese tech giant Huawei is reportedly ready to test a new artificial-intelligence chip to compete with Nvidia — but the U.S. chipmaker shouldn’t be too concerned, according to one analyst.
Huawei is looking to test its Ascend 910D chip with fellow homegrown tech companies and is expected to get its first samples of the chips next month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people described as familiar with the matter. The Chinese company, which was added to the U.S. Entity List in 2019, reportedly is aiming to take on Nvidia Corp.’s H100 chips, which are used to train some of the world’s most powerful AI models. Nvidia cannot sell its H100 chips to Chinese companies under U.S. restrictions.
News of the Huawei chip, reportedly still in early development, negatively impacted some U.S.-listed chip stocks on Monday, including Nvidia’s. Shares of Nvidia fell 2%, while Micron Technology Inc. saw its shares drop 1.5%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.’s U.S.-listed shares slipped 1% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. shares were down 0.3%, though all recovered from intrasession lows. Shares of Intel Corp. meanwhile, gained 1.7%, while Broadcom Inc. rose fractionally.
But while a new AI chip would demonstrate Huawei’s ability to innovate quickly, it likely wouldn’t have the performance benefits of Nvidia’s offerings, which would limit its appeal outside of China.
The Ascend 910D reportedly uses packaging technology that can improve performance by integrating more silicon dies. However, it uses more power and is less efficient than the H100, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
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Why Nvidia investors shouldn’t worry about Huawei’s new AI chip, source
