Huawei takes on Qualcomm, Nvidia with its new AI-powered chips

After overtaking Apple in smartphone shipments, Huawei now eyes on some of America’s largest technology companies in semiconductors. The Chinese mobile-phone giant unveils its latest Ascend series chips. The new AI chips are capable of competing with designs from Qualcomm and Nvidia Corp, says the company.

Huawei unveiled two new AI chips called the Ascend 310 and Ascend 910, aimed at data centers and smart devices respectively. As told by Huawei, the Ascend 910 AI chip for data centers is said to process huge amounts of data faster than any other chip and help train the smart algorithms in AI applications in a matter of minutes.

The Ascend 310, on the other hand, is aimed at internet-connected devices like smartphones, and other IoT gadgets. The company is also said to introduce cloud computing services and dedicated data centers for autonomous vehicles that use this chip.

“Huawei’s AI strategy is built on top of continued investment in basic technologies and talent training,” Chairman Eric Xu told the Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai. The adoption of AI technologies will not only make Huawei products smarter, but will also greatly contribute to the company’s total income, says Huang Weiwei, a senior management consultant at Huawei.

Huawei’s big decision to make chips for the third parties will definitely put the tech giant in battlefield with Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, and others. With its cloud, network, and consumer devices in greater use, it is clear that the Chinese firm is trying to create an ecosystem around AI applications with the help of the new chipsets.