South Korean media report that Nvidia’s market share has declined to 34%, raising questions about whether the true determinant of success in the semiconductor race lies in data.

Korean Media: Huawei’s Rise Strong, NVIDIA’s Market Share in China Drops to 34%

On October 14, South Korean media outlet *Global Economy* published an article stating that due to U.S. restrictions on exporting advanced AI chips to China, NVIDIA’s market share in China has declined to 34%.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies such as Huawei are expanding their market presence at a rapid pace, narrowing the gap.

Data from global market research firm IDC shows that NVIDIA’s share in China’s data center AI chip market fell to 34% during the first half of this year.

In the first half of this year, NVIDIA shipped 678,000 AI accelerators to the Chinese market, a 44% decline compared to the same period last year. AI accelerators refer to chips specifically designed for training and running AI models.

Huawei shipped 572,000 AI accelerators—nearly double the 300,000 units it shipped in the first half of last year—with a market share of 28%, falling short of NVIDIA’s by six percentage points.

Alibaba’s semiconductor design subsidiary, T-Head, followed closely with a 7% market share. Meanwhile, the swift rise of domestic Chinese firms is notable: Cambricon holds a 5% share, Kunlun芯 (Kunlun Core) under Baidu accounts for 4%, and Higon Information holds 3%.

IDC reports that among 11 semiconductor companies in China, nine saw increased shipments compared to the previous year.

Total AI accelerator shipments in China reached 2.008 million units during the first half of this year.

Among them, GPU shipments—the most widely used for AI training—declined by 26% year-on-year to 991,000 units. In contrast, non-GPU accelerators, designed for specific AI tasks or inference, surged nearly 80% to 1.016 million units.

In the non-GPU segment, Huawei, T-Head, Kunlun Core, and Cambricon collectively captured 95% of the Chinese market.

IDC forecasts that while GPU shipments in China’s AI accelerator market will decline by 9% this year, overall accelerator shipments are expected to grow by 19% as reliance on non-GPU technologies increases.

IDC analysis notes, “Competition is shifting from single-chip performance to system-level capabilities, such as chip performance within large-scale computing clusters.”

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1878988595014664/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s).