Subj : No Nvidia? No problem - Huawei debuts AI system that's apparently
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Fri Apr 18 2025 18:45:08

No Nvidia? No problem - Huawei debuts AI system that's apparently faster than 
the market leader, the GB200 NVL72

Date:
Fri, 18 Apr 2025 17:32:00 +0000

Description:
Huawei debuts an AI system in China that's significantly faster than Nvidias 
market leader, the GB200 NVL72.

FULL STORY
======================================================================Huawei 
launches CloudMatrix 384 Supernode to rival Nvidias NVL72 AI CloudMatrix 384 
delivers nearly double the compute power with superior memory and bandwidth 
Consumes almost four times the power but system efficiency is less critical 
in China 

Huawei has been positioning itself as the Chinese Nvidia for some time, and 
now, the South China Morning Post reports the company has launched a new AI 
infrastructure architecture set to rival the US chip giants NVL72 system. 

Nvidias NVL72 links 72 GPUs using NVLink technology, allowing them to 
function as a single, powerful GPU. Built for trillion-parameter AI models, 
it delivers real-time inference at speeds up to 30 times faster than previous 
systems by avoiding traditional data transfer bottlenecks. 

 SCMP said Huaweis rival to this, the CloudMatrix 384 Supernode, has been 
described as a "nuclear-level product" by unnamed Huawei sources. According 
to reports, it uses 384 Ascend 910C chips to deliver 300 petaflops of dense 
BF16 compute, that's almost double the 180 petaflops offered by Nvidias 
NVL72. Power hungry 

The CloudMatrix 384 Supernode has so far been deployed at Huaweis data 
centers in Wuhu, a city in central Anhui province, the report says. 

Writing about the new product, SemiAnalysis confirms this rack-scale solution 
competes directly with Nvidias GB200 NVL72 and, in some metrics, outperforms 
it. The site says that despite sanctions, Chinas domestic semiconductor 
capabilities are growing and Huaweis strength lies in system-level 
engineering, including networking, optics, and software. 

While the Ascend chips rely heavily on foreign supply chains, such as HBM 
from Samsung and wafers from TSMC, Huawei has managed to skirt export 
controls through complex sourcing strategies. 

The CloudMatrix 384 doesnt only outperform the NVL72 in terms of compute, it 
also offers 3.6x aggregate memory capacity and 2.1x more memory bandwidth. 
However, something Huawei is likely less keen to shout about is that it 
consumes nearly four times the power. 

 SemiAnalysis points out that in China this is less of an issue than you 
might think. Abundant power generation means efficiency is less of a 
constraint compared to in the West, and China is expanding its energy grid 
rapidly, supporting such power-hungry AI infrastructure, even when supply 
outstrips demand . You might also like US sanctions allow Huawei 
'case-by-case' access to chip-making equipment Huawei is pairing its 
supercharged SSD with a 60-year old technology Huawei's blueprint for a 
post-Trump, non-US centric technology world



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/no-nvidia-no-problem-huawei-debuts-ai-system-tha
ts-apparently-faster-than-the-market-leader-the-gb200-nvl72


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