Huawei
Nvidia CEO reportedly warns US sanctions won’t stop Huawei’s AI drive
Huawei is constantly striving to improve its AI chips despite US sanctions, and it seems these efforts are raising concerns for the Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang. The firm once again warned the foreign authorities about China’s growth in AI.
LightReading noted that on Tuesday (May 6), Jensen attended an annual event of the Milken Institute. During the interrogation with attendees, the Nvidia CEO revealed how the tougher US sanctions are indirectly driving Huawei AI business.
The executive said it’s an illusion that China is limited by the available computing capacity for military reasons. If the Chinese government really wants it for military advances, it’ll just secure whatever resources they already have!
Jensen further mentioned that due to the latest US curbs, Nvidia is missing out on a Boeing-sized opportunity in China. He predicts that if China begins working on in-house AI chips, its market value will reach $50 billion.
“Fifty billion dollars is like Boeing – not a place – the entire company,” said Huang.
He also added that Huawei is doing well in the AI industry. It continues to make significant strides in the AI chipset race. As a result, it will soon take over the Chinese AI market if we stop supplying them with foreign chips.
“If we do not supply products to the Chinese market and completely withdraw, someone else will take that place. For example, Huawei is one of the most formidable corporations in the world. If we do not supply them with AI semiconductors, they will take that place.”
Huawei Ascend AI chips (Image Credits: Huawei)
Nvidia has been constantly warning US authorities in the past week about its sanctions, which are now seemingly heading in the wrong direction. The US chip controls were imposed on China to slow down its growth in the chip field.
But looks like the tables have turned to the opposite side. He further noted that Nvidia would have enjoyed this business opportunity, advancing its technology to a greater extent. Although that seems a difficult task at present.
Nvidia held a significant market share in the Chinese AI segment. But a restriction on H20 chips in China has increased stress for the US chipmaker. Hence, it is constantly warning about the side effects of the new chip curbs.
Huawei, on the other hand, has started sending samples of the CloudMatrix 384, which (combined with Ascend 910C) is capable of outperforming H20 and NVL72 clusters.
Stacy Rasgon, the Managing Director of Bernstein Research, also agrees on Nvidia’s stress points. He said:
“We’re effectively handing the entire AI market in China to Huawei by not allowing Nvidia to compete there, because they’re going to do it anyway.”
