Huawei Moves Ascend 960DT AI Chip Launch Up to Q1 2027 as It Targets Nvidia
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 17
Huawei Moves Ascend 960DT AI Chip Launch Up to Q1 2027 as It Targets Nvidia
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 17
Summary
Huawei said at its Connect conference that its Ascend 960DT AI chip will be ready in Q1 2027, bringing the launch forward from its previous Q3 2027 plan.
The company tied the faster timeline to its push to challenge Nvidia, saying the Ascend 960 line is launching ahead of schedule with doubled performance and annual advances.
Huawei is pairing the chip with its new Peerium Computing Architecture, which underpins Atlas 950 SuperPoD and SuperCluster systems; one Atlas 950 SuperCluster can link up to 256,000 accelerator cards.
Questions remain over system scale: analyst Rui Ma noted Huawei had earlier outlined an Atlas 960 SuperPoD with 15,488 Ascend 960 chips, versus 4,096 chips cited in this week's announcement.
The move underscores China's broader AI and semiconductor drive despite U.S. restrictions, coming a week before Trump and Xi are due to meet in Washington on Sept. 24.