As China has begun in earnest its push for "semiconductor self-reliance" to break through U.S. sanctions, foreign media reported that Huawei (华为), China's leading semiconductor player, will double production of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips next year compared with this year.
Bloomberg News reported on the 30th (local time), citing multiple anonymous sources, that Huawei plans to produce about 600,000 units of its flagship "910C Ascend" chip next year. This is said to be about double this year's level, when production was disrupted by U.S. semiconductor sanctions on China.
According to the report, Huawei plans to raise die production for the Ascend product line, including the successor to the 910C to be released next year and the 950DT, to about 1.6 million units next year. A die is a basic silicon component that contains the chip circuit. Huawei's current die production is around 1 million units.
Bloomberg said, "If Huawei achieves these goals, it would signify a technical breakthrough," adding, "It would mean Huawei and others have found ways to ease part of the bottlenecks that have hindered China's semiconductor self-reliance." Chinese big tech companies such as Alibaba need millions of AI chips. Last year alone, sales of Nvidia's H20 chip in the United States were reportedly as high as 1 million units.
In mid-month, Huawei also took the unusual step of announcing concrete AI chip rollout plans. They are: ▲ early 2026, Ascend 950PR equipped with an in-house designed AI memory chip ▲ late 2026, Ascend 950DT ▲ late 2027, Ascend 960 ▲ late 2028, Ascend 970.