Huawei improves AI chip production in boost for China’s tech goals
Chinese company improves ‘yield’ of latest semiconductor, despite US efforts to prevent manufacturing advances
Feb 25 2025

《華為提升AI芯片生產(chǎn)，助力中國科技目標》
盡管美國采取措施限制制造進展，中國公司自主研發(fā)先進半導體產(chǎn)品的“良率”仍然取得了突破


Huawei has significantly improved the amount of advanced artificial intelligence chips it can produce, in a key breakthrough that supports China’s push to create its own advanced semiconductors.
The Chinese conglomerate has increased the “yield” — the percentage of functional chips made on its production line — of its latest AI chips to close to 40 per cent, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. That represents a doubling from 20 per cent about a year ago.
The move represents an important advance for Huawei, which has been rolling out its latest Ascend 910C processors, which offer better performance than its previous 910B product.

華為在高端AI芯片量產(chǎn)能力上取得重大突破，這一關(guān)鍵進展有力地支持了中國推進先進半導體自主研發(fā)進程。
據(jù)兩位知情人士透露，這家中國公司將其最新AI芯片的“良率”——即生產(chǎn)線上產(chǎn)出的功能性芯片的比例提高到了接近40%，這比一年前的20%翻了一番。
這一進展對于華為來說意義重大，因為該公司正在推出最新的昇騰910C處理器，其性能優(yōu)于之前的910B產(chǎn)品。

The improved yield means that Huawei’s production line for Ascend chips has become profitable for the first time, according to the people with knowledge of its business. The company has a goal to further improve yields to 60 per cent, in line with the industry standard for similar chips.
The breakthrough is a step forward for China’s hopes to build computing infrastructure that can support its burgeoning AI industry, despite US export controls designed to hamper the country’s ability to develop sensitive technologies.
The effort has state support, with Beijing urging local tech companies to buy more of Huawei’s AI chips and shift away from $3.3tn US chipmaker Nvidia, which remains the market leader in China by far.

據(jù)了解華為業(yè)務(wù)的知情人士透露，良率的提高意味著華為的昇騰芯片生產(chǎn)線首次實現(xiàn)盈利。公司計劃將良率進一步提升至60%，與同類芯片行業(yè)標準持平。
盡管美國實施了旨在限制中國發(fā)展敏感技術(shù)能力的出口管制，這一突破仍是中國在構(gòu)建能夠支持其蓬勃發(fā)展的AI產(chǎn)業(yè)計算基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施方面邁出的重要一步。
這一努力得到了國家層面的支持，北京正鼓勵本土科技公司購買更多華為的AI芯片，并減少對價值3.3萬億美元的美國芯片制造商英偉達的依賴，后者目前在中國市場上仍占據(jù)主導地位。

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei *** last week that the worried China had about a “l(fā)ack of core and soul” had eased, adding “I firmly believe a greater China will rise faster”, the People’s Daily reported.
The phrase “l(fā)ack of core and soul” dates back to a 1999 comment by a former China technology minister about the country’s information industry, with “core” referring to semiconductors and “soul” referring to operating systems.
Huawei’s recent progress is also significant to achieving China’s goal of reaching full independence for advanced chip production.

據(jù)《人民日報》報道，華為創(chuàng)始人任正非上周表示：我們曾經(jīng)“缺芯少魂”的憂慮已經(jīng)減弱了,“我堅信,一個更偉大的中國將加速崛起”。
“缺芯少魂”這一說法可追溯至1999年中國一位前科技部長關(guān)于國內(nèi)信息產(chǎn)業(yè)的評論，其中“芯”指的是半導體，“魂”指的是操作系統(tǒng)。
華為最近的進步也使其朝著實現(xiàn)完全獨立生產(chǎn)先進芯片的目標邁出了重要一步。

The world’s leading chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, was forced to stop making Ascend chips and advanced smartphone chips in 2020, after Washington blocked Huawei from accessing manufacturing that used US technology.
Austin Lyons, semiconductor analyst with consultancy Creative Strategies, compared Huawei’s production milestone to TSMC’s estimated 60 per cent yield for production of Nvidia’s H100 AI processor, a similarly sized chip. On that basis, it is possible that a rival product such as Huawei’s would be commercially viable at a 40 per cent yield, he said.
Huawei partnered with the Chinese fabrication group Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, which is under sanctions, to relaunch its Ascend chip.

由于華盛頓禁止華為使用涉及美國技術(shù)的制造工藝，全球領(lǐng)先的芯片制造商臺積電在2020年被迫停止生產(chǎn)昇騰芯片和先進的智能手機芯片。根據(jù)這一數(shù)據(jù)，華為類似的產(chǎn)品在40%良率的情況下就可能具備商業(yè)可行性。
咨詢公司Creative Strategies的半導體分析師Austin Lyons將華為的這一生產(chǎn)里程碑與臺積電為英偉達H100 AI處理器估計的60%良率進行比較，后者是一種類似柵長（譯者注：柵長是指晶體管柵極的寬度）的芯片。

SMIC uses its so-called N+2 process, which is capable of producing advanced chips without extreme ultraviolet technology. China is banned from purchasing EUV lithography machines, the most cutting-edge chipmaking equipment from Dutch group ASML.
Shenzhen-based Huawei plans to produce 100,000 910C processors and 300,000 910B chips this year, said people with knowledge of its plans. This compares with 200,000 910B and no mass production of 910C in 2024.
The figures suggest that Nvidia will still sell more AI chips in China than Huawei, despite the US company only being able to sell Chinese customers its H20 chips, a less powerful version of its H100 chips designed to adhere to Washington export controls.

華為與中國的半導體制造商中芯國際（SMIC）合作重新啟動了其昇騰芯片的生產(chǎn)。中芯國際采用其所謂的N+2工藝，能夠在沒有極紫外光（EUV）技術(shù)的情況下生產(chǎn)先進芯片。中國被禁止購買荷蘭ASML公司生產(chǎn)的EUV光刻機，這些設(shè)備是目前最先進的芯片制造設(shè)備。
據(jù)知情人士透露，總部位于深圳的華為計劃今年生產(chǎn)10萬臺910C處理器和30萬臺910B芯片，而2024年生產(chǎn)計劃為20萬個910B芯片，910C芯片則沒有大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)。
這些數(shù)據(jù)表明，盡管美國公司只能向中國客戶銷售其H20芯片（一種為遵守華盛頓出口管制而設(shè)計的較弱性能版本的H100芯片），但英偉達在中國的AI芯片銷量仍將超過華為。

The consultancy SemiAnalysis has estimated that Nvidia made $12bn selling 1mn of its H20 chips to China last year.
Huawei faces challenges to convince more customers to abandon Nvidia. One person close to the business pointed to Nvidia’s Cuda software, which is known for being easier to use and capable of faster data processing than Huawei’s offerings.
AI companies and Huawei researchers have also said that the Ascend 910B did not work well for large-scale model training, because of problems with inter-chip connectivity and memory issues.
Huawei has been trying to improve these issues by working with partners to resolve software bugs and increase memory capacity in its latest 910C series.

咨詢公司SemiAnalysis估計，英偉達去年通過向中國銷售100萬片H20芯片，獲得了120億美元的收入。
華為在說服更多客戶放棄英偉達方面面臨挑戰(zhàn)。一位接近相關(guān)業(yè)務(wù)的人士指出，英偉達的CUDA軟件以易用性和更快的數(shù)據(jù)處理能力著稱，而華為的產(chǎn)品則在這些方面較弱。
AI公司和華為研究人員還表示，由于芯片間連接問題和內(nèi)存不足的問題，昇騰910B在大規(guī)模模型訓練方面表現(xiàn)不佳。
華為一直在通過與合作伙伴合作解決軟件漏洞并增加其最新910C系列的內(nèi)存容量來改進這些問題。

However, Huawei has still emerged as the frontrunner to challenge Nvidia in the market for “inference” chips, the hardware used to run AI models once they have been trained.
Prospective customers for the Ascend chip have also cited difficulties securing supplies, with Huawei prioritising orders for large state-run cloud providers like China Mobile.
Huawei accounts for more than three-quarters of the overall output of AI chips in China, said one of the people with knowledge of its business. The smaller rivals have struggled to compete with Huawei to get enough capacity at SMIC’s leading nodes, the person added.
Huawei declined to comment.

然而，華為依然是挑戰(zhàn)英偉達“推理”芯片市場的領(lǐng)跑者，“推理”芯片是經(jīng)過訓練后用于運行 AI 模型的硬件。
昇騰芯片的潛在客戶也提到過供應(yīng)問題，華為目前優(yōu)先滿足中國移動等大型國有云服務(wù)商的訂單。
據(jù)知情人士透露，華為在中國AI芯片整體產(chǎn)量中占據(jù)了超過四分之三的份額。較小的競爭對手在爭取中芯國際先進工藝節(jié)點的產(chǎn)能時則面臨困難。
華為拒絕置評。