China’s second biggest chip manufacturer, Hua Hong, has developed the capacity to produce AI chips, according to Reuters, which has cited unnamed sources. If this is the case, then Hua Hong will be only the second Chinese company to be able to do so, with the other being SMIC.
Reuters says that Hua Hong is readying its Shanghai plant to produce 7-nanometre chips, which are at least a generation behind Nvidia’s 4-nanometre nodes, such as the H200 which has recently been approved for sale to China. Nevertheless, this development would mark a significant milestone in China’s push towards self-sufficiency in advanced technologies, as it would demonstrate the ability to design and manufacture chips domestically, building AI systems without relying on foreign components.
While this is a step forward for China, it also indicates that the US is still dominating the tech race. There is no doubt that AI is hugely significant in terms of society, economics, politics and military affairs. Nvidia’s CEO says that China is only seconds behind the US, in terms of semiconductor development, but the Hua Hong announcement suggests the is larger than that. Meanwhile, the US, and other international companies like TSMC, are for sure pressing ahead on the next generation of chips.