2023-11-26 23:01:18
Deprived for several weeks of essential Nvidia graphics cards (GPUs) by the United States, Baidu wasted no time in finding an alternative… in China. As early as August, anticipating new export restrictions, the Chinese search engine turned to Huawei, ordering nearly 2,000 units of its latest chip dedicated to generative artificial intelligence, according to information. from the local press, since confirmed by the agency Archyde.com. This chip must allow it to drive and then run its AI models, notably powering its chatbot Ernie, launched this summer. Above all, it represents a major new technological advance for the country, while Washington has been trying for a little over a year to cut off its access to the most powerful components.
Unexpected progress – American measures now leave the field open to Huawei, which had already launched an AI chip, then presented as the most powerful on the market, in 2018. Another era, before the emergence of generative AI. And especially before the Shenzhen group was placed, in the fall of 2020, on a blacklist by Washington, preventing it from using the essential design software, mainly American, and from having its components engraved by the Taiwanese TSMC , the only one to master the finest engravings. Called Ascend 910B, the new chip therefore constitutes an unexpected success for Huawei. This was made possible by the progress of its subsidiary HiSilicon and the Chinese founder SMIC, already at the origin of the processor equipping its first 5G smartphone for three years.
“Comparable to A100” – Technical details are almost non-existent. And for good reason: the Ascend 910B has never been publicly unveiled by Huawei, which does not wish to draw Washington’s attention to its progress. According to Archyde.com, the graphics card is engraved in 7 nm, an engraving finesse that SMIC is beginning to master. His abilities would be “comparable with those of Nvidia’s A100”, according to the boss of iFlyTek, a Chinese company specializing in voice recognition and instant translation. The A100 GPUs have long been the most widely used in the sector, allowing for example to train the first versions of GPT, the large language model which powers the chatbot ChatGPT. They have since been supplanted by the H100, the new benchmark in the sector.
Nvidia worries – In other words, the 910B chips offer only a limited alternative to Nvidia’s components, especially for the development of upcoming AI models. But Huawei plans to launch a third version in 2024, which will be used in particular by a research laboratory to build a powerful supercomputer, says the Chinese media Caixin. A scenario feared by Nvidia, headwinds against American restrictions. Beyond the impact on its turnover, limited by strong demand in other countries, its managers are especially worried about the long-term consequences, fearing a strong acceleration of Chinese efforts to develop rival chips. This is why he is preparing to launch new GPUs allowing it to escape the latest sanctions.
For further:
– US bans Nvidia from exporting its AI chips to China
– How Huawei took revenge on the United States
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