Huawei\u2019s latest products are seen as among those that would satisfy DeepSeek\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n
Combined capacity from these three new plants, once fully ramped up, could exceed the current total output of similar lines at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China\u2019s leading fab, according to those people with knowledge of the effort.<\/p>\n
The people added that SMIC also planned to double its capacity next year for making chips at 7 nanometres \u2014 the most advanced mass-produced type in China. Huawei is SMIC\u2019s largest customer at present for such processor lines.<\/p>\n
As a result, smaller Chinese chip designers such as Cambricon, MetaX and Biren will be able to get much larger allocations of SMIC\u2019s capacity, spurring competition for a fast-growing China market left by Nvidia following US export bans.<\/p>\n
Semiconductors<\/a> are at the heart of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. The US has restricted access to the top AI processors made by global leader Nvidia, in an effort to restrain Chinese efforts to develop AI.<\/p>\n \u201cDomestic output won\u2019t be an issue for long, especially with all the capacity coming online next year,\u201d said one Chinese chipmaker executive.<\/p>\n DeepSeek announced last week that its models were now using a type of FP8 data format, designed to adapt to the next generation of domestic chips, without specifying from which supplier. <\/p>\n Share prices of listed Chinese semiconductor companies such as Cambricon and SMIC surged following the announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Huawei\u2019s 910D as well as Cambricon\u2019s 690 are seen as leading products tailored to support Deepseek\u2019s preferred standards, while multiple smaller Chinese chipmakers are also accelerating the development of their versions.<\/p>\n DeepSeek chose this data format because it increases the efficiency of hardware, at the cost of precision, which could create a way to help Chinese AI players compete with international rivals even if their chips are generations behind Nvidia\u2019s leading offerings.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we succeed in developing and optimising these Chinese chips to train and run Chinese models in a continuously evolving Chinese ecosystem, one day we will look back at this shift as an even more significant DeepSeek moment,\u201d said the chipmaker\u2019s executive. \u201cThis unprecedented alignment could make up for our less advanced hardware capability.\u201d<\/p>\n However, such an effort would require a years-long collaboration between makers of computing chips with those making hardware for memory and connectivity, as well as software tools required to support them. <\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n China is making pushes in other critical areas as well, such as memory chips, at present dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron \u2014 all subject to US export controls. <\/p>\n Leading Chinese player CXMT is testing samples of \u201cHBM3\u201d high bandwidth memory products with a target to launch next year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The product is only one generation behind the most advanced memory products used by Nvidia\u2019s chips.<\/p>\n While DeepSeek has done early work on Chinese chips in small samples, to prove that it is technically viable, the group\u2019s current model training is done on Nvidia chip clusters, the Financial Times has reported. This could change once more Chinese domestic chips become adaptable to its standard and improve their performance.<\/p>\n \u201cNecessity begets innovation,\u201d said an investor in multiple Chinese semiconductor and large language model start-ups. \u201cCompanies in Silicon Valley won\u2019t even bother to do what DeepSeek is doing because they can get as many advanced Nvidia chips as they want.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Montage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net.jpeg\")
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