Tech war: Huawei trumpets AI computing breakthrough for China ahead of Xi-Trump call
US-sanctioned Huawei is playing a leading role in finding solutions that can empower China’s AI ambitions without relying on foreign tech
The Shenzhen-based telecommunications equipment giant’s high-profile disclosure came just a day before a scheduled phone call between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump, as Beijing seeks to minimise US export restrictions while pursuing a policy of self-reliance in technology.
Huawei said it had developed the “world’s most powerful” supernode computing cluster using local chipmaking processes, while also disclosing plans to launch upgraded Ascend AI chips over the next three years. The moves provide a boost to the country’s efforts to build self-reliance in AI computing and offer a wholesale alternative to the US-led AI hardware ecosystem.
“Huawei is seeking to build a ‘supernode + cluster’ computing solution using chip manufacturing processes available in China to meet the growing compute needs,” deputy chairman Eric Xu Zhijun, who currently serves as the firm’s rotating chairman, said at the company’s annual Connect Conference in Shanghai.
Tilly Zhang, China technology analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics in Beijing, said Huawei’s announcement was “good timing for China to show strength and gain negotiating leverage”.