Shenzhen activates China’s first 10,000-card AI cluster with domestic chips

Shenzhen has activated a new cluster, built with Huawei advanced chips, that delivers a computing capacity of 11,000 petaflops.

Photo: Getty Images China’s southern tech hub Shenzhen began operations of the country’s first 10,000-card intelligent computing cluster, built with advanced chips made by Huawei Technologies, in the latest sign of how the country is deepening its push for home-grown computing capabilities.

Featuring a computing capacity of 11,000 petaflops, the new cluster, activated last week, is the country’s first 10,000-card intelligent computing cluster built with Huawei’s Ascend 910C AI chips, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, the city’s official newspaper.

Combined with the 3,000-petaflop cluster activated last year, which had already been fully booked, the facility now has a total computing capacity of 14,000 petaflops.

Nearly 50 organisations had signed computing power framework agreements for the newly launched cluster, bringing the combined booking rate across both phases to 92 per cent, according to the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.

The newly operational intelligent computing cluster underscores a massive appetite for computing power among the region’s AI start-ups, robotics firms and research universities.

Zhang Luncheng, vice-president of robotics start-up X Square Robot, told the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily that significant upgrades to the scale and quality of Shenzhen’s computing power had positioned the city as a national leader.

Huawei’s Ascend 910C AI chip operated at roughly 60 per cent of the capacity of Nvidia’s H100, according to a DeepSeek study.

Despite that performance gap, domestic buyers are already banking on Huawei’s next generation of AI chips to narrow the divide.

Chinese tech giants, including ByteDance and Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post, planned to purchase Huawei’s latest AI processor, the Ascend 950PR, according to a recent Reuters report.

The demand is driven by the chip’s enhanced compatibility with Nvidia’s CUDA ecosystem and faster response speeds.

Following its unveiling last September, Huawei was preparing for a roll-out of roughly 750,000 units by the end of the year for its new 950PR AI chip, according to the Reuters report.

Alibaba, ByteDance and Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Reuters report.

Shenzhen has launched a three-year blueprint to transform into an AI computing hub by 2028.

The plan targets a “leapfrog” incre

原文链接: 南华早报