Huawei Technologies is preparing to begin mass shipments of its new 910C artificial intelligence chip to Chinese companies as early as May, according to sources cited by Reuters. The rollout follows tightening restrictions from the United States government on Nvidia's (NVDA, Financials) ability to sell AI chips in China.

The 910C chip, which combines two of Huawei's existing 910B processors into a single package, delivers twice the computing power and memory of the previous model, Reuters reported. Although the chip represents an architectural evolution rather than a major technological breakthrough, it offers performance comparable to Nvidia's H100 chip, sources familiar with the product told Reuters.

The timing of the 910C's deployment is crucial for Chinese AI companies, which have been seeking domestic alternatives after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration required Nvidia to obtain export licenses for its H20 chips, Reuters reported. The H100 chip had already been banned from China in 2022 before it was launched.

Consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group told Reuters that Huawei's Ascend 910C GPU is likely to become the preferred hardware for Chinese developers building AI models and inference capacities. Huawei began distributing samples of the 910C to select technology companies in late 2024 and started accepting orders, sources said.

While Huawei declined to comment on its shipment plans, China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International is reportedly producing some components for the 910C using its N+2 7-nanometer process, Reuters reported. However, sources indicated that SMIC's chip yield rates remain low.

Reuters also reported that some of the 910C chips may include semiconductors produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM, Financials) for a Chinese firm called Sophgo. The U.S. Commerce Department is investigating TSMC's past work with Sophgo after finding one of TSMC's chips inside a previous 910B processor.

Huawei has denied using TSMC-made Sophgo chips, while TSMC said it complies with regulatory requirements and has not supplied Huawei since mid-September 2020, according to Reuters. Sophgo did not respond to requests for comment.

The developments highlight a growing effort by Chinese technology firms to build domestic alternatives to Nvidia and other U.S. suppliers amid intensifying export restrictions.