Huawei Seeks New Opportunities Beyond China
Huawei Technologies Co. has begun approaching potential customers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia to export limited quantities of its older-generation AI chips. The Chinese tech giant is aiming to carve out a presence in regions where the market is largely dominated by established players like Nvidia and AMD[1][2][3].
Targeted Markets and Product Offering
Huawei has held discussions with customers in nations including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand, offering its Ascend 910B processors. These countries already have long-term agreements in place to secure more than a million advanced chips from Nvidia and AMD, underscoring the challenge for Huawei in breaking into entrenched markets[1].
- Ascend 910B: Huawei is offering these older-generation processors in batches of only a few thousand units to foreign buyers.
- CloudMatrix 384: To attract interest, Huawei is providing remote access to an AI system in China built with its more advanced Ascend 910C chips. However, export of the 910C remains off the table due to limited availability and prioritization for Chinese domestic use[1].
Competition With Nvidia
Nvidia, whose
ChatGPT technology and AI chips are widely used for cutting-edge AI tasks, remains a dominant force in these regions. Huawei’s foray highlights its intention to establish itself as a serious competitor in the global AI hardware landscape, despite current limitations in chip availability[1][2][3].
Status of Export Efforts
No finalized deals have been reported so far, but Huawei’s initiative demonstrates its ambition to expand its technology footprint in international AI markets. The company continues to ramp up manufacturing capacity with the aim of supporting more significant export volumes in the future[1][3].
Strategic Focus on Domestic Market
While exploring international sales, Huawei is prioritizing its most advanced AI chips—the Ascend 910C—for domestic customers, particularly Chinese firms who cannot access top-tier American AI processors[1].
Industry Implications
Huawei’s move into Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian AI chip markets signals a broader shift as global tech players compete for influence beyond traditional strongholds. The ongoing competition with Nvidia and AMD is likely to shape the evolving AI technology landscape in these rapidly growing regions[1][2][3].
