SHANGHAI – Huawei Technologies on Saturday showcased an advanced artificial intelligence computing system that industry experts believe directly rivals Nvidia Corp.’s top-tier offerings, as the Chinese tech giant intensifies its pursuit of market share in the rapidly expanding domestic AI sector.
The “CloudMatrix 384” system drew significant attention during its public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, a three-day event highlighting the latest AI innovations.
The CloudMatrix 384 has garnered considerable interest within the global AI community since its initial announcement in April. Analysts view it as a direct competitor to Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72, currently the U.S. chipmaker’s most sophisticated system-level product. Dylan Patel, founder of semiconductor research group SemiAnalysis, stated in an April article that Huawei now possesses AI system capabilities that “could beat Nvidia.”
While Huawei staff at the WAIC booth declined to comment on the CloudMatrix 384 system, and a company spokesperson did not respond to inquiries, the company’s aggressive push into advanced AI hardware is evident.
Despite stringent U.S. export restrictions, Huawei has solidified its position as a leading domestic supplier of chips crucial for AI development in China. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, in a May interview with Bloomberg, acknowledged Huawei’s rapid progress, specifically citing the CloudMatrix as an example.
According to SemiAnalysis, the CloudMatrix 384 integrates 384 of Huawei’s latest 910C chips. The firm also suggests that on some metrics, Huawei’s system outperforms Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72, which utilizes 72 B200 chips. This performance, SemiAnalysis notes, stems from Huawei’s system design capabilities that compensate for weaker individual chip performance through the use of more chips and system-level innovations, leveraging a “supernode” architecture for ultra-high-speed chip interconnection.
In June, Huawei Cloud CEO Zhang Pingan confirmed that the CloudMatrix 384 system was already operational on Huawei’s cloud platform, underscoring its readiness for practical application in the burgeoning AI landscape.