New solution from Huawei: AI-processors for data centers

In China, Huawei introduced a proprietary AI processor. Earlier, Huawei released the specialized accelerators of AI and machine learning Kirin 980, which, in particular, have found application in smartphones. Now the company has introduced solutions for the data center: the Ascend 910 chip and the Ascend 310 mobile solution. Thus, the company creates an entire ecosystem that Huawei will develop on its own and offer independent developers.

In the production segment, the company will be pushing Ascend 910 processors. These are solutions for data centers and clouds. At the moment, as the Huawei Ascend 910 chip says, it is the most efficient AI processor in the world. Thus, the peak performance of the Ascend 910 in machine learning tasks reaches 256 teraflops for double-precision calculations. One of the most powerful current solutions in the form of an accelerator based on the NVIDIA V100 GPU in similar scenarios provides only 125 teraflops with a comparative consumption. The Huawei 910 chip is made using the 7-nm process technology and consumes at the peak of up to 350 watts. Mass production of new products is scheduled for the second quarter of 2019.

Add, the future accelerator of tensor computing Google TPU 3.0 also turned out to be not a competitor compared to using Huawei 910. Not yet released to the operational space of Google TPU 3.0 produces only 90 teraflops almost three times less than Ascend 910.

For mobile and low-power devices, Huawei introduced the Ascend 310 AI chip. When consumed at 8 watts, the solution generates 8 teraflops in half-precision calculations. On the basis of the Ascend 310 will be produced a wide range of devices from mini-servers with consumption up to 100 watts to AI-assistants in headphones with consumption from 1 mW. For end devices, Google is preparing its solution in the form of an Edge TPU chip. It’s not yet possible to compare the performance of Huawei and Google. Huawei Ascend 310 chips are manufactured using 12 nm FFC process technology. This is a unique development of Huawei, which does not require licensing for third-party developers. AI units based on the Ascend 310 promise to appear en masse in smartphones, IoT devices and self-driving cars.