Baidu to Source AI Chips from Huawei

Chinese search engine Baidu has reportedly procured artificial intelligence chips from Huawei this year, as stated by two individuals with knowledge of the situation. This development further reinforces the indications concerning the United States' tightening grip on Huawei's technology. The increasing pressure is driving the Chinese to accept the firm's products as a substitute for Nvidia's.

In August, Baidu, one of China's prominent AI companies that uses the Ernie large language model (LLM), made a purchase prior to the expected introduction of new regulations by the U.S., according to one individual. In October, the government implemented stricter regulations on the export of chips and chip tools to China, including those originating from the United States. Nvidia, the gigantic chip company, rewrote the text.

According to a source, Baidu has placed an order for 1,600 of Huawei Technologies' 910B Ascend AI chips. The Chinese company developed these chips as an alternative to Nvidia's A100 chip. The order was made for 200 servers. The source also revealed that by October, Huawei had already delivered over 60% of the order, which amounts to approximately 1,000 chips, to Baidu.

The second person said that the order's total value was approximately 450 million yuan ($61.83 million) and that Huawei was to deliver all of the chips by the end of this year. Both people declined to be named because the details of the deal were confidential.

Although the order is tiny relative to the thousands of chips top Chinese tech firms have historically ordered from Nvidia, the sources said it was significant, as it showed how some firms could shift away from the U.S. company.