Daily: Xi urges self-reliance; Huawei tests Ascend 910D; YMTC valued at US$22b
5.5 min read.
Highlights
Xi urges self-reliance. China’s leader Xi Jinping called for “self-reliance and self-strengthening,” in the words of Chinese state media, following the April Politburo Study Session on AI. Xi signalled support for government procurement, intellectual property rights, research and cultivating talent. This is from the absolute highest levels of government. Regardless of whether US policy seeks to exclude or include China, no matter how many visits Jensen takes to Beijing, the U.S. and China are now in two separate AI worlds.
I remember when US-China “de-coupling” talk was popular in DC circles in 2020, 2021. Despite some chatter of a Cold War 2.0, it was apparent that the two powers were a lot more intertwined than the US/USSR ever were. But now, the two countries are drifting further, faster apart.
Huawei tests Ascend 910D. Huawei is testing their latest chip, the Ascend 910D. It’s supposed to be more powerful than Nvidia’s H100, which is just one generation behind Nvidia, or roughly 2-3 years. It’s the latest announcement in a string of releases, including the 910C, which is similar to the H100 and was launched for mass production just last week. It’s incredible that Huawei can get this far this quickly without reliable access to EUV photolithography machines. Almost certainly the yield will be low and likely unprofitable, but it doesn’t matter when the primary goal is to innovate and for China to become self-sufficient.
Meanwhile, Nvidia is also speeding along, wth their B300 chips to be produced as soon as late May 2025.
YMTC valued at US$22b. YMTC, China’s top flash memory producer, is revealed to be valued at a very large US$22b. The company lost some US$10m in the first nine months of 2024. It’s main backers are state affiliated funds and entities, who are not super profit/loss sensitive in the short term.
Thanks for reading.
1. Policy and Geopolitics
1.1
Reuters (04/28): China's Xi calls for self sufficiency in AI development amid U.S. rivalry
China's President Xi Jinping pledged "self-reliance and self-strengthening" to develop AI in China, state media reported on Saturday, as the country vies with the U.S. for supremacy in artificial intelligence, a key strategic area.
Speaking at a Politburo meeting study session on Friday, Xi said China should leverage its "new whole national system" to push forward with the development of AI.
"We must recognise the gaps and redouble our efforts to comprehensively advance technological innovation, industrial development, and AI-empowered applications," said Xi, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Xi noted policy support would be provided in areas such as government procurement, intellectual property rights, research and cultivating talent.
1.2
TrendForce (04/28): China Rumored to Speed up Semiconductor Integration, as it Aims to Merge 200 Chipmaking Tool Firms into 10
The Chinese government is pushing to consolidate the country’s semiconductor equipment companies into about 10 key players.
The report suggests that due to tough U.S. sanctions, the Chinese government is pushing to restructure its semiconductor equipment sector. As many of these firms rely on government subsidies, Beijing now aims to shrink its more than 200 chipmaking equipment companies into just 10 key players, as per etnews.
Citing data from Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, etnews notes that over the past decade, the Chinese government has poured roughly 1.33 trillion yuan (about 259 trillion KRW) into boosting semiconductor self-sufficiency.
However, the results seem to be limited so far, as China’s semiconductor self-sufficiency stands at just 23%, the report adds.
1.3
EE Times (04/25): China’s Rare Earth Controls May Impact Chip Industry by 2026
China’s export controls on rare earths could cause production delays and higher costs in the semiconductor industry as soon as next year, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Associate Director Karl Breidenbach told EE Times.
“If export restrictions remain in force or tighten through 2025-2026, companies not diversified away from Chinese sources could face production slowdowns, higher production costs, slowdowns in wafer throughput and possibly product launch delays for devices that rely on affected components,” Breidenbach said.
1.4
Reuters (04/28): Singapore negotiating for US concessions on pharmaceuticals, chips
Singapore is negotiating concessions for pharmaceutical exports to the U.S. while ensuring it still has access to high-end AI chips from the American market, said Trade and Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.
Gan had a call with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Friday and Lutnick expressed concern about export controls of chips "not just to Singapore, but generally" and wanted to explore "creative solutions" to strengthen bilateral trade, according to a transcript published by the trade ministry on Sunday.
2. Economy, Finance, and Business
2.1
WSJ (04/27): China’s Huawei Develops New AI Chip, Seeking to Match Nvidia
Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D, people familiar with the matter said. The company is slated to receive the first batch of samples of the processor as soon as late May, some of the people said.
The development is still at an early stage, and a series of tests will be needed to assess the chip’s performance and get it ready for customers, the people said.
Huawei hopes that the latest iteration of its Ascend AI processors will be more powerful than Nvidia’s H100, a popular chip used for AI training that was released in 2022, said one of the people. Previous versions are called 910B and 910C.
2.2
SCMP (04/27): Chinese memory chipmaker YMTC valued at US$22 billion after beverage company investment
Previously undisclosed financial information, including a valuation of 161 billion yuan (US$22.1 billion) and losses incurred last year, have been revealed in a filing by a new investor in Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), China’s leading flash memory chipmaker.
Hebei Yangyuan Zhihui Beverage Co has paid 1.6 billion yuan (US$219 million) to subscribe to YMTC’s new registered capital, giving it a holding of 0.99 per cent, the beverage giant said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday.
The filing also disclosed some key financial figures for YMTC, including a loss of 84 million yuan in the first nine months of 2024, compared to a profit of 531 million yuan for the full year of 2023. Net assets amounted to 134.7 billion yuan at the end of last September, higher than 132.6 billion yuan at the end of 2023.
2.3
Axios (04/25): Intel reverses course on VC arm spinout
Intel has reversed its decision to spin out Intel Capital, one of Silicon Valley's oldest and most active corporate venture funds.
Comments from new Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan, himself a former venture capitalist, suggest that a major secondary sale is coming.
2.4
TrendForce (04/28): Intel Announced Partnerships with Black Sesame, Model Best and BOS Semiconductors
During the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, Intel announced new partnerships with companies including Black Sesame Technologies, Model Best, and BOS Semiconductors, aiming to collaboratively cross technological hurdles in the automotive intelligence process and build an open, mutually beneficial smart vehicle ecosystem.
2.5
EE Times (04/25): SambaNova Lays Off 15% of Workforce To Refocus on Inference
AI hardware, software and cloud services startup SambaNova laid off 77 people from its staff of around 500 this week, representing around 15% of its workforce.
A SambaNova spokesperson told EE Times that this round of layoffs comes at a time when the company is refocusing away from training workloads and towards being an AI cloud services provider.
3. Technology
3.1
TrendForce (04/28): NVIDIA Reportedly Kicks off B300 Production Preparation in May, Boosting TSMC’s 5nm and CoWoS-L
At TSMC’s North America Technology Symposium, the foundry giant rolled out an ambitious roadmap for its CoWoS technology. Meanwhile, major customer NVIDIA is showing signs of strong momentum too. According to Commercial Times, NVIDIA’s production schedule for its B300 series has reportedly been moved up to May, using TSMC’s 5nm process and CoWoS-L advanced packaging.
As highlighted by Wccftech, for the GB300 Blackwell Ultra, NVIDIA has decided to switch from the Cordelia compute board structure, which features 2 CPUs and 4 GPUs, to the Bianca architecture used by GB200, which pairs 1 CPU with 2 GPUs.
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