- Cambricon – a semiconductor company operating for less than 10 years – is emerging as Huawei’s main competitor in China’s AI chip industry, after Huawei terminated their partnership in 2019.
- Cambricon’s share price doubled in August, reaching 1,495 yuan (~
209USD),raisingthecompany′svaluationto∗∗580billionyuan( 209USD),raisingthecompany′svaluationto∗∗580billionyuan(81.2 billion USD)**. However, the company warns that its share price may be outpacing its actual business fundamentals. - Cambricon reported a profit of 1 billion yuan (~$140 million USD) in the first half of 2025, driven by strong domestic demand for AI chips.
- The company is strongly backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) – its second-largest shareholder – and is closely aligned with Beijing’s national AI strategy.
- Cambricon produces AI chips for data centers and edge computing, and has developed Siyuan chips compatible with Nvidia’s training models – a factor considered an advantage over Huawei’s Ascend.
- From 2020–2024, Cambricon invested 5.6 billion yuan (~$784 million USD) in R&D, primarily for software improvements.
- “Giants” like ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu are prioritizing purchasing chips from Cambricon due to direct competition with Huawei in many areas.
- According to Goldman Sachs, Cambricon’s revenue is projected to increase from 6.5 billion NDT (910 million USD) in 2025 to 13.8 billion NDT (1.93 billion USD) in 2026; its AI chip market share in China is expected to grow from 3% to 11% by 2028.
- Its expansion capability depends on SMIC, China’s leading chip manufacturer. The government has directed SMIC to prioritize 7nm capacity for Cambricon instead of dedicating it entirely to Huawei.
- Cambricon sold almost all its chips in Q1/2025 to ByteDance, leading to a severe supply shortage.
- Meanwhile, Huawei still has a hardware advantage in developing chip connectivity solutions competitive with Nvidia’s NV-Link, but is facing software issues that need to be overcome.
📌 Domestic AI chip company Cambricon is breaking through as the number one candidate to replace Nvidia in China with a profit of 140 million USD in the first half of 2025 and a market valuation of over 81 billion USD. The company is strongly backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences – its second largest shareholder – and is closely aligned with Beijing’s national AI strategy. Cambricon produces AI chips for data centers and edge computing, and develops Siyuan chips compatible with Nvidia’s ecosystem training models – a factor considered an advantage over Huawei’s Ascend. “Giants” like ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu are prioritizing buying chips from Cambricon due to direct competition with Huawei in many areas. Expansion capabilities depend on SMIC, China’s leading chip manufacturer. The government has instructed SMIC to prioritize 7nm chip capacity for Cambricon rather than dedicating all of it to Huawei.
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