Published in Mobiles

How Huawei bypassed the ban

by on06 February 2024


The cunning plan involved slashing Kirin production

Huawei stunned the world when it brought out the Mate 60 and Mate 60 Pro last year. Despite US bans that stop the company from getting top chips, including 5G modems, the phone's China-made Kirin 9000s SoC gave 5G and satellite network links.

This made the Mate 60 series one of Huawei's best-selling phones in China last year.

Even as the Mate 60 series has kept its fans since a new one isn't due for a while,

Huawei is taking a risky bet by cutting phone production to increase the production of its Ascend 910B artificial intelligence chips.

Reuters says that Huawei is keen on making more of its AI chip. It has switched the factory where the Mate 60 series' Kirin SoC is made to make more AI chips instead. The report says that Kirin's making at the factory is now low, with more stuff being used to make the Ascend 910B.

The Ascend chips are used for teaching AI models, and China, like the rest of the world, is experiencing an AI craze. There's more demand for AI chips in China, and Huawei is trying to exploit that.

There's a lot of demand for AI chips in China as firms find it hard to get the best AI chips, like the H100 from NVIDIA, because of US bans on chip experts.

Chinese AI makers now want to use homemade options like Huawei's Ascend 910B. So, the big firm is well placed to cash in on the buzz by feeding the colossal hunger for AI chips that firms in China have right now.

This is terrible news for the Kirin, which might not be seen in great numbers.

 

Last modified on 06 February 2024
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Read more about: