Huawei's latest AI chip, the Ascend 920, has demonstrated performance within 30% of Nvidia's H200 on key AI training benchmarks, according to independent testing by Chinese research institutions.
The result is significant because the Ascend 920 was developed entirely without access to advanced US chip-making equipment, which has been restricted by export controls since 2022.
The chip uses SMIC's 7nm process (compared to TSMC's 4nm for Nvidia's latest chips), making its performance-per-transistor achievement technically impressive. However, power efficiency remains approximately 50% behind Nvidia.
The development has prompted calls in Washington for tighter export controls. Hawks argue the current restrictions are not working. Others contend that restrictions are working — they have delayed Chinese AI chip development by 2-3 years and forced significantly higher costs.