In the race of artificial intelligence, where many competitors have taken part, Huawei has finally pulled the curtains off its most rumoured artificial intelligence cluster. It is called the Huawei CloudMatrix 384, and it has gathered the tech crowd around it. Investors, analysts, and a lot of curious minds are all packed around Huawei’s booth to get a glimpse of the new system. The new Huawei CloudMatrix 384 could finally go head-to-head and toe-to-toe with NVIDIA’s crowned prince, GB200 NVL72.
The control over the artificial intelligence infrastructure will power everything from cities that are smart cities to advanced robotics. In this global race of artificial intelligence to win in tech dominance, NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 competitor from Huawei is making a powerful move. So, let us break down why the Huawei CloudMatrix 384 has the entire artificial intelligence world buzzing and whether it can dethrone NVIDIA’s crown prince.
A Start is Born at WAIC
Huawei chose WAIC in Shanghai to showcase their latest model to the public for the very first time, and it blew everyone’s mind. The three-day event was the perfect stage for the showcasing of Huawei CloudMatrix 384, as it was attended by a lot of people to see the future of artificial intelligence. The system was not just a demo presentation but rather a declaration about China AI infrastructure and how it is growing at a speedy scale. This machine was teased by Huawei since April, and now it has made it to the headlines of every news channel.
Dylan Patel from SemiAnalysis boldly mentioned that Huawei now possesses a system-level artificial intelligence capability that can outshine NVIDIA. This is a very strong statement as NVIDIA has grown and developed itself to become one of the most popular artificial intelligence platforms in the world. It is worth noting that the CEO of NVIDIA, Jensen Huang, has taken the competition positively and mentioned that he is also paying close attention to Huawei CloudMatrix 384.
Read More: WhatsApp Meta AI Tools Are Here! 5 New Features That Will Blow Your Mind
Read More: Samsung Invests $8M in Memories AI: Transform Long-Term Video Analysis with AI
What is Under the Superpower of Huawei
The Huawei CloudMatrix 384 is not just an assembly of parts, but rather it is very carefully designed with Huawei AI cluster like Ascend 910C chips for superpowers. The magic lies in the supernode architecture that allows ultra-fast interconnection between the chips in an all-to-all topology. The CEO of Huawei Cloud, Zhang Pingan, confirmed in June that this system is already operational within Huawei Cloud and is no longer a prototype.
Huawei tried to give a catchy name by dubbing the system the Atlas 900 A3 Superpod, which probably sounds like it is out of a sci-fi movie. But with the help of 300 PetaFLOPS of BF16 performance, the beast now means business in the real world. The CloudMatrix 384 can reportedly deliver 2 times the higher BF16 performance than NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 when it comes to raw output. This is a jaw-dropping achievement if we are considering the hardware limitations of Huawei due to the export restrictions in the United States.
Performance vs Power
Even though the Huawei CloudMatrix 384 delivers 2 times better BF16 performance, it consumes 3.9 times more power than its NVIDIA competitor. It crushes benchmarks, but it may crush your energy bill along the way as well!! Something that the critics have mentioned is that its performance per watt is not quite flattering, and SemiAnalysis called the power efficiency “awful.” This could become a dealbreaker for many enterprises and governments because we are now aiming for sustainable development and preserving our resources for the future.
But if we weigh it against the current global artificial intelligence chip shortages and trade restrictions, the availability and domestic production might justify the power consumption. Apart from this, the reported price tag of a single Huawei CloudMatrix 384 is a cool $8 million, which is triple the amount of its NVIDIA counterpart. The strategy behind it is about control, not cost-cutting, and to offer a locally built, scalable, and high-performance artificial intelligence platform.
The Global Perspective of Huawei CloudMatrix 384
The CloudMatrix 384 is more than a technological national symbol and a server rack. It is a signal towards Chinese artificial intelligence growth and how it is ready to compete with the Western alternatives without relying on importing components. This makes Huawei’s system so much appealing to government agencies, defense projects, and tech firms who are looking to minimize exposure from foreign countries. Huawei has also received a lot of respect from its rivals, NVIDIA.
Jensen Huang acknowledges that this Chinese company is moving quite fast, and the CloudMatrix 384 should be taken seriously by people and mainly in Western countries. It is not just about competition posturing but also validation from the top dog in artificial intelligence chips. But there is still a very steep hill for Huawei as it is low in power efficiency and pricing that could harm them to remain for the long term.
