Huawei Unveils CloudMatrix 384 AI System Rivaling Nvidia GB200 at WAIC

Huawei unveiled its CloudMatrix 384 AI computing system at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, positioning it as a direct competitor to Nvidia's top-tier GB200 NVL72. The CloudMatrix 384 features 384 of Huawei's 910C chips, significantly more than Nvidia's 72 B200 processors, utilizing a "supernode" architecture to enable ultra-high-speed interconnectivity and compensate for the individual chip's lower performance. Industry experts, including Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis, have noted that Huawei's system can outperform Nvidia's on certain metrics despite U.S. export restrictions limiting China's access to advanced foreign chips. Huawei CEO Zhang Pingan confirmed the system is operational within Huawei's cloud platform, highlighting the company's strategy to replace banned foreign hardware with domestically produced technology. However, the CloudMatrix 384 comes with higher power consumption and a price tag nearly three times that of Nvidia's GB200 system, indicating that Huawei prioritizes in-house production and performance over cost efficiency. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged Huawei's rapid progress, emphasizing the significance of the CloudMatrix in the competitive AI hardware landscape.