After years of escalating U.S. sanctions, Chinese tech giant Huawei has emerged as a formidable player in the field of artificial intelligence, positioning itself as a direct competitor to global chipmakers such as NVIDIA.
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Once a modest phone distributor operating out of a small apartment in Shenzhen, Huawei is now seen as a national symbol of technological self-reliance in China. The company is spearheading China's push toward AI independence, reshaping its business model in response to geopolitical pressure.
From Sanctions to Innovation
Under mounting trade restrictions, Huawei strategically redirected its focus toward new growth sectors—primarily artificial intelligence. The company has expanded into advanced chip development, data centers, large language models (LLMs), and precision industrial AI applications.
According to a report from CNBC, Huawei’s adaptive strength lies in its ability to penetrate highly technical industries with exceptional efficiency, despite the steep barriers to entry. Paul Triolo, Senior VP at DGA Albright Stonebridge, notes that the U.S. sanctions have pulled Huawei closer to the Chinese government, even though its founder, Ren Zhengfei, had long aimed to keep the company apolitical.
Turning Pressure into Progress
Since being blacklisted by the U.S. in 2019, Huawei has been cut off from key partners like Google and Taiwan’s TSMC, severely impacting its smartphone sales. However, instead of collapsing, Huawei pivoted aggressively toward innovation. It launched its own AI processor, the Ascend 910, marking a new chapter in the global AI race.
Huawei's surprise comeback made headlines, particularly after it released a 5G-enabled smartphone powered by a domestically produced chip—without access to TSMC. Analysts believe the company now relies on China’s SMIC, another blacklisted firm, for chip fabrication.
Challenging NVIDIA’s Dominance
In response to restrictions on NVIDIA’s AI chips in China, Huawei developed competitive domestic alternatives, such as the Ascend 910B, and is preparing to scale up production of the more advanced 910C.
Huawei has also built CloudMatrix 384, a supercomputing architecture linking 384 chips, which it claims can rival or outperform NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 systems in certain tasks.
Moreover, the company has created CANN, its own AI software stack, analogous to NVIDIA’s CUDA, providing a comprehensive environment for developers to train and deploy AI models.
Building a Chinese AI Model
Huawei’s flagship large model, Pangu, is designed for industry-specific and governmental use rather than general-purpose AI like OpenAI’s GPT-4. According to the company, Pangu has already been deployed across more than 20 sectors, including mining, healthcare, transportation, and regulatory agencies.
In a notable demonstration of its AI and 5G integration capabilities, Huawei deployed over 100 self-driving electric trucks in Chinese mining operations as of May 2025.
Expanding Beyond China
Huawei isn’t limiting its ambitions to the domestic market. It has open-sourced the Pangu models and is targeting countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, aiming to expand its AI infrastructure footprint in Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Experts predict that Huawei could replicate its success in telecom and become a major global force in AI infrastructure over the next decade.