Huawei is reportedly planning to enter the GPU market, which is currently dominated by Nvidia. According to South Korean media reports (via MyDrivers), the Chinese tech giant is setting up a GPU division in South Korea.
Huawei is likely to take a business-centric approach with its GPU segment, as the report suggests the company is focusing on GPUs intended for servers. Alongside server-grade GPUs, the GPU division is meant to boost its cloud computing and AI business units.
Moreover, Huawei is said to be recruiting Nvidia employees and executives to stay ahead of the competition. Since Huawei is known for reducing reliance on other brands and internalizing as much as possible, just like it does with Kirin chips in the smartphone market, this really doesn’t come as a surprise.
In case you’re out of the loop, Huawei launched its first AI chip named Huawei Ascend 910 last year, claiming it to be the world’s most powerful AI processor. It will be interesting to see how the company manages to implement a server-grade GPU.
The report, citing industry sources, says Huawei has been working on its own GPU chip since 2012. Even if Huawei manages to implement it so well, chances are, the company would utilize it for its own needs rather than providing it as a resource to other brands.
With all that said, it is worth noting that there is no word about mainstream consumer-centric GPUs just yet. Huawei may enter that segment in the future but given the current circumstances, it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
