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Huawei eyes export of AI chips to Middle East, Southeast Asia to rival Nvidia
The Chinese firm has reached out to potential clients in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Thailand about buying its Ascend 910B processors
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Huawei Technologies is trying to export small quantities of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, in an effort to establish a foothold in markets dominated by Nvidia Corp in spite of ongoing manufacturing challenges.
The smartphone maker and world’s largest telecommunications equipment supplier – which has become China’s strongest competitor to leading US chipmakers – has reached out to potential customers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Thailand about buying its older-generation Ascend 910B processors, according to people familiar with the matter.
The two Gulf nations recently struck deals for well over a million Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors over several years. Thailand’s AI efforts similarly rely on advanced semiconductors from Nvidia.
Huawei is offering 910B volumes in the low thousands, according to the people, though the exact number for any particular pitch remains unclear.
The Shenzhen-based company is also trying to woo customers with remote access to its CloudMatrix 384 system, the people said. That is a China-based high-performance computing system built with more advanced Ascend 910C chips – which Huawei is not currently prepared to export owing to limited supplies, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking. Huawei is focused on selling 910Cs to Chinese firms that cannot access best-in-class US AI chips, the person said.
Huawei’s efforts, however, have not produced any finalised deals, the people said – though they indicated that the Chinese company, which Nvidia has called a formidable competitor, wants to give foreign AI markets a taste of its technology as it works to boost manufacturing output.
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