Chinese artificial intelligence semiconductor companies are fully challenging American semiconductor companies like NVIDIA, and the domestic AI chip industry investment boom continues to heat up. Some evaluations suggest that the United States' export controls have instead stimulated results that promote the self-reliance of its own technology.
Since 2022, the United States has restricted the export of high-performance artificial intelligence chips produced by companies like NVIDIA to China on the grounds of national security. However, this measure has stimulated Chinese AI chip companies, becoming a turning point in accelerating their independent research and development of technology. In fact, recently listed emerging AI chip design companies like MoXin Intelligence and MoEr Thread in the Shanghai stock market saw their stock prices soar several times in a single day, garnering significant market attention. MoXin Intelligence raised 4.2 billion yuan, while MoEr Thread raised as much as 8 billion yuan in investment funds, ensuring massive capital.
In addition, existing major IT giants are also investing in the independent research and development of AI chips. Huawei, a manufacturer of communication equipment and smartphones, plans to release its self-developed high-performance chip 'Ascend 950' next year, directly targeting Nvidia. The search engine Baidu is fully committed to chip development aimed at large language models (LLMs) through its AI chip development subsidiary Kunlun, and the stock price of e-commerce company Alibaba also surged after the release of its self-developed chip. The emerging player Cambricon, which has garnered much attention, saw its sales in the first half of 2024 increase by more than 40 times compared to the same period last year, confirming market expectations.
On the other hand, the United States has recently made some adjustments to its restrictions. President Trump conditionally approved the export of Nvidia's mid-range AI chip 'H200' to China earlier this month. However, the Chinese government has restricted the introduction of this chip to reduce dependence on foreign chips and insists on cultivating its domestic technology policy. Although the H200 is not the latest product, it is regarded as strategically important due to its performance that has yet to be achieved by Chinese companies.
Although China's AI chip industry is growing rapidly, there are still many shortcomings in terms of technology and production infrastructure. In particular, the dependence on core component technologies such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) remains high, and the yield issues of semiconductor foundries have also been pointed out as urgent problems to be solved. Therefore, whether it can partially replace Nvidia's lower-spec products is expected to depend on technological completion and market response in the coming years.
This trend has the potential to change the global semiconductor supply chain landscape in the future. Depending on the level of technological independence, China may partially shake the AI chip market structure centered around the United States, which is expected to further intensify the competition for technological hegemony within the global IT industry.
