Huawei schedules two Ascend AI chips for 2027

Huawei Technologies announced plans to release two new artificial intelligence processors in 2027, aiming to provide computing power for China despite US export controls restricting access to Nvidia's advanced chips. The company's rotating chairman, David Wang, revealed that the 960DT will launch in the first quarter of 2027, followed by the Ascend 960PR in the third quarter.

These accelerators are part of Huawei's strategy to build domestic alternatives for training and running AI models, reflecting a shift towards system-level performance over individual chip capabilities. Huawei unveiled the Ascend 960 SuperPoD and an upgraded UnifiedBus interconnect technology, capable of connecting up to 4,000 processors within a SuperPoD.

The company also mentioned developing the Atlas 960 SuperPoD and SuperCluster, each designed to combine over one million neural processing units. Huawei's current roadmap includes the Ascend 950DT, set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2026, featuring HiZQ 2.0 high-bandwidth memory for model training and inference workloads. US restrictions on China's access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing have given Huawei an opportunity to expand its domestic supplier base.

However, challenges remain, including shortages of high-bandwidth memory and the need to improve both hardware and software to reduce dependence on foreign computing infrastructure.