China emerged as the winner in the chip war.

China Emerges as the Winner in the Chip World War

China Ignores Western Sanctions, Breaks NVIDIA's Monopoly

Figure caption: At the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai, China, Huawei displayed the super node Ascend 384 at its booth.

Figure caption: At the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai, China, Huawei displayed the super node Ascend 384 at its booth. (Source: Cfoto / Keystone Press / Global Vision Press)

China's largest telecommunications company, Huawei, announced plans to launch four new versions of the Ascend artificial intelligence chips and high-performance computing nodes. Western experts in the telecommunications market have consistently commented that Western sanctions not only failed to stifle China's chip industry but also became a catalyst for its development.

Now, Huawei is competing with the US giant NVIDIA.

Huawei's vice chairman Xu Zhijun told reporters that Huawei will introduce two improved versions of the Ascend 950 (Ascend 950) this year, followed by the Ascend 960 (Ascend 960) in 2027 and the Ascend 970 (Ascend 970) in 2028.

This ambitious plan demonstrates Huawei's long-term strategy for research and application of cutting-edge technologies in the field of artificial intelligence.

In addition to new chips, Huawei also plans to launch new supercomputing nodes, which can be assembled from 8,000 and 15,000 chips respectively.

Xu Zhijun stated that these super nodes will become the most powerful nodes in the world, significantly enhancing China's capabilities in data processing and machine learning.

One of the key points mentioned by Huawei is the use of self-developed high-performance memory in the Ascend 950 (Ascend 950) chip. This move will help China overcome a critical technological limitation — for many years, this limitation forced China's semiconductor industry to rely on suppliers from South Korea and the United States.

It was precisely this limitation that initially made the sanctions against China effective. However, now, the successful development of self-developed memory is not only a technological breakthrough but also a major step for China towards technological independence and consolidating its position in the global semiconductor market.

Huawei's recent announcement once again confirms that China views artificial intelligence as a key technology for the future and is investing substantial funds to promote its development.

China is implementing a large-scale national neural network development strategy. This strategy covers supporting scientific research, developing infrastructure, creating favorable conditions for innovation, and attracting outstanding professionals.

Figure caption: Huawei's Ascend 910C has entered mass production in the first quarter of this year. It is reported that internet giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent are the first batch of purchasers of the Ascend 910C.

Figure caption: Huawei's Ascend 910C has entered mass production in the first quarter of this year. It is reported that internet giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent are the first batch of purchasers of the Ascend 910C. (Source: Screenshot from video)

As early as 2017, the Chinese government launched the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan," aiming to become a global leader in the field of neural networks by 2030. However, it seems that China no longer needs to wait for this deadline to arrive.

China is already one of the countries with the largest investment in the field of neural networks. Last year, the investment in this field exceeded 30 billion US dollars, and obviously, this number will continue to grow. These investments support both large tech companies like Huawei and small innovative companies—so-called startups. It is these companies that develop new neural networks applicable to specific niche fields. Here are some examples.

The startup SmartMore has developed a neural network for farmers: this network can identify plant diseases in the early stages and predict crop yields using images captured by drones and cameras.

The startup Infervision has developed a neural network for doctors: this network can automatically identify internal tumors, fractures, cerebral hemorrhages, and other lesions on X-ray, CT (computed tomography), and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) images.

Another Chinese company, SenseTime, has developed a neural network for the retail industry: this network can recognize customers' faces and track their movement within large supermarkets, thereby optimizing product placement layouts.

The neural network developed by the startup Megvii is aimed at the banking sector: this network can identify suspicious financial transactions and assess credit risk by analyzing borrowers' past behavior.

Without the support at the national level, all these achievements would not have been possible. China is actively building infrastructure to support the development of neural networks, including large data processing centers, 5G networks, and cloud computing platforms. The government also supports the construction of specialized AI industrial parks where companies can research and test their products and solutions. The first such industrial park opened in Yongchuan, Chongqing, this spring.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7554285094244975140/

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