Huawei Forecasts $12B in 2026 AI Chip Revenue — 60% YoY as Ascend 950PR Targets 750K Units
FT reports Huawei expects AI chip revenue to climb 60% to ~$12B in 2026 from $7.5B in 2025, with ByteDance alone placing $5.6B in Ascend orders as Nvidia's H20 stays blocked from China.
Huawei's inference chip business is on track to nearly double in a year as China unhooks itself from Nvidia.
Key specs
2026 revenue forecast
~$12B
2025 revenue
$7.5B
Yo y growth
60%+
Ascend 950 pr units 2026
~750,000
Byte dance order
$5.6B
What is it?
An FT-sourced report that Huawei now expects 2026 AI chip revenue of roughly $12B, up from $7.5B in 2025 — a 60%+ jump driven entirely by domestic Chinese demand for the Ascend 950PR.
How does it work?
Mass production of the Ascend 950PR began in March on SMIC's N+3 process. Targeted output is around 750,000 units in 2026, with shipments concentrating in H2. ByteDance has placed orders worth roughly $5.6B; the upgraded Ascend 950DT is slated for Q4. Chip prices have already risen ~20% as demand outpaces supply.
Why does it matter?
Huawei's revenue forecast is the cleanest financial reading on how fast China is building a self-sufficient AI hardware stack. It maps the lost Nvidia opportunity (H20 banned earlier this year) directly into Huawei's books and pairs with DeepSeek V4's optimisation work to define a parallel inference market the West cannot price.
Who is it for?
AI infra investors, semiconductor analysts, China-policy watchers.
