Huawei chips have begun to fill the gaps created by Nvidia in China’s AI research centers. Many Chinese customers now choose Ascend processors over American SoCs. The reason is not effectiveness but availability, following American trade controls.
According to a report, an AI research center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is using Huawei Ascend AI chips instead of Nvidia. This is the third case where a Chinese sector has opted for local rather than foreign components.
A Hong Kong-based Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) recently introduced its new AI model named CARES Copilot 2.0 to the medical world.
Its aim is to help doctors, mainly surgeons, plan surgery, generate diagnostic reports and retrieve records of similar cases. The model is an improved version of its predecessor (equipped with Huawei Ascend 910B AI processors).
The Hong Kong-based AI research center claims to have upgraded many of its medical AI models with Huawei AI chips. Liu Hongbin, executive director of CAIR, believes that Huawei AI chips can basically satisfy the laboratory’s research needs.
The partnership between CAIR and Huawei began last year in August. The two parties have drafted a cooperation protocol to work together to impose the use of AI in surgery.
Huawei Ascend AI chip (Image credits: Huawei)
On November 22, Liu Hongbin had a small chat with the media about his new AI model. During the interrogation, he also mentioned his connection with Huawei:
“At that time (during cooperation), we believed that in the near future, for geopolitical reasons, the United States would definitely prevent us from using high-end chips. As a research institution, we had to have alternative plans. Since then, the capabilities of Huawei’s AI chips have rapidly advanced.”
Liu added that Huawei’s progress in the field of AI chips is obviously rapid. He said earlier that the center took one or two months to complete the full training. Although the same amount of data only took a week to summarize training with Huawei chips.
The executive mentioned that the previous generation model which runs on the performance of the Ascend 910B is quite close to the Nvidia A100. Meanwhile, the Copilot 2.0 uses Huawei’s Atlas 800T server. CAIR’s growth shows that Huawei chips are constantly filling the gaps created by Nvidia in Chinese AI research centers and other companies.
Even if Nvidia is still in the lead when it comes to ecosystem. But in terms of functionality, Huawei can be trusted because it can easily meet the requirements, says Liu.
Huawei chips continue to fill Nvidia’s void in China’s AI research centers (Image credits: Huawei)
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