Huawei's latest AI system takes on NVIDIA's most powerful offering
What's the story
Huawei Technologies, the Chinese tech giant, has unveiled its new artificial intelligence (AI) computing system at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. The CloudMatrix 384 system is being touted as a potential competitor to NVIDIA's most advanced offering, the GB200 NVL72. The move comes as part of Huawei's strategy to capture a larger share of China's booming AI market.
Market impact
CloudMatrix 384 v/s GB200 NVL72
The CloudMatrix 384 system has been in the spotlight since Huawei announced it in April. Industry experts see it as a direct rival to NVIDIA's GB200 NVL72, which is currently the US chipmaker's most advanced system-level product on the market. Dylan Patel, founder of semiconductor research group SemiAnalysis, previously noted that Huawei now possesses AI system capabilities that could potentially outpace NVIDIA.
Technological advancement
China's most promising domestic supplier of chips
Despite facing US export restrictions, Huawei has emerged as China's most promising domestic supplier of chips critical for AI development. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang had previously acknowledged Huawei's rapid progress, citing the CloudMatrix system as an example. The CloudMatrix 384 packs 384 of Huawei's latest 910C chips, and outperforms NVIDIA's GB200 NVL72 on some metrics, according to SemiAnalysis.
System design
Innovative system design capabilities
The superior performance of the CloudMatrix 384 system is attributed to Huawei's innovative system design capabilities. These innovations compensate for the weaker individual chip performance by using more chips and system-level improvements. The company claims that the system employs a "supernode" architecture that enables ultra-high-speed interconnections between chips.