Baidu has ordered 1,600 AI chips from Huawei, according to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter. The purchase points to a practical shift: as US restrictions narrow the chips available to Chinese companies, Baidu is preparing to use a domestic alternative.
A purchase made ahead of tighter restrictions
The order was placed in August, before US export restrictions on chips and chip technology to China took effect in October. Those rules also affected Nvidia products that had been offered to Chinese customers.
One source told Reuters that Baidu ordered 1,600 Huawei 910B Ascend AI chips. The source said the company was preparing for a future in which it might no longer be able to buy from Nvidia.
The order is valued at about 450 million yuan ($61.83 million), and Huawei is expected to complete delivery by the end of the year. The article describes the purchase as small compared with the thousands of chips Chinese technology companies typically buy from Nvidia.
What Huawei's Ascend chips offer
Huawei developed the 910B Ascend as an alternative to Nvidia's A100. The source says it is considered less powerful, while also describing it as the most advanced domestic option in China.
That difference matters for companies training AI systems. Baidu has mainly relied on Nvidia's A100 to train its language models, even as it develops its own AI chips. The Huawei order adds another source of hardware, but the article does not say that it replaces Baidu's existing Nvidia supply or its in-house development.
For Baidu, the purchase is a way to prepare for possible limits on access to foreign chips. For Huawei, the order represents a sale of its Ascend hardware to a major Chinese technology company.
Existing work could ease the transition
The two companies have worked together since 2020 to make Baidu's AI platform compatible with Huawei hardware. In August, they announced plans to improve compatibility between Baidu's Ernie AI model and Huawei's Ascend chips.
That software work provides context for the order. Hardware alone does not establish how easily a company can move its AI workloads; compatibility between the platform, model and chips is also relevant. The earlier collaboration means Baidu and Huawei had already been working on that connection before this reported purchase.
Export rules reshape chip choices
The restrictions have changed which Nvidia products can be sold in China. After regulations introduced last year barred sales of Nvidia's A100 and H100 chips to China, Nvidia brought out the A800 and H800 as alternatives for Chinese customers. The October rules then prevented Nvidia from selling those chips to China as well.
The source presents Baidu's order as evidence that Chinese companies may be turning toward US alternatives, though not necessarily by choice. The purchase shows one response to reduced availability: securing domestic chips and building compatibility ahead of a possible supply gap.
Neither Baidu nor Huawei commented when Reuters contacted them. The reported order therefore offers a view into Baidu's preparations, while leaving unanswered how extensively the company may rely on Huawei chips or how the hardware will be used.