China’s AI compute surge heavily reliant on US chips, offshore cloud access: report

China's available AI compute power is projected to double in 2027 from about 4.6 million to 8.8 million H100-equivalents, with US-designed chips accounting for roughly 65 per cent of that capacity, according to a report by a Washington-based research group. The finding indicates China's continued reliance on foreign hardware and offshore cloud access despite domestic chip efforts.

China’s access to artificial intelligence computing power will double next year, but US-designed chips will account for about 65 per cent of that capacity, an indication of its continued reliance on foreign hardware, according to new research. Total compute available to Chinese entities was expected to expand in 2027 from about 4.6 million to 8.8 million “H100-equivalents” – a metric benchmarked against Nvidia’s data-centre graphics processing units, according to a report by the Washington-based...