On May 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the use of Huawei's Ascend series AI chips (such as 910B, 910C, and 910D) in any region of the world will be considered a violation of U.S. export control regulations. The move emphasizes that even if a chip is used outside the United States, it may be illegal because it involves American technology. Seeing this news, the first reaction of the editor of China Exportsemi was to feel "shameless" and "funny". The U.S. believes that Ascend chips may have used U.S. technology in the R&D or manufacturing process, and therefore are under its "long-arm jurisdiction." At the same time, the U.S. government has also revoked the Biden-era AI Proliferation Rule and replaced it with more targeted restrictions to prevent countries such as China from acquiring advanced AI chips. This series of actions, which seems to be aimed at Huawei, actually highlights the strategic intention of the United States to strengthen "technological containment" in the global technology game. Below, the editor will also talk about his own observations and views on this matter.
Ⅰ. History repeats itself: the "encirclement and suppression" strategy from 5G to AI has been upgraded
1. The continuity of the pattern of technological repression
The U.S. ban is similar to the 2019 blockade of Huawei's 5G chips, using legal tools (such as the general prohibition under EAR 736.2(b)(10)) to bring Chinese technology under "long-arm jurisdiction" and cut off its global supply chain. The previous Entity List restrictions for 5G have now been extended to AI chips, reflecting the path-dependent containment logic of the United States for China's technological breakthroughs.
2. From "point-to-point" to "full chain" plus
Compared with the single technology blockade in the 5G era, this policy is more systematic: not only for the Ascend chips themselves (such as 910B/C/D), but also for all Chinese high-performance computing chips that meet the 3A090 classification, covering the whole process of design, manufacturing, and use. This expanded regulation attempts to fundamentally dismantle China's ability to cultivate the ecosystem of AI chips.
3. Progressiveness of strategic objectives
In the 5G era, the United States intends to prevent China from dominating communication standards, while the ban on AI chips aims at a higher dimension of technological hegemony - by suppressing the supply of computing power, hindering China's competitiveness in generative AI, supercomputing and other fields, and then affecting the distribution of voice in the future global digital order.
Figure: From 5G to AI, the U.S. crackdown on Huawei Enters the Era of Computing Competition
Ⅱ. The Reverse Advertising Effect: The ban exposes America's technological anxieties
1. The performance is benchmarked against the international top level
The single-card performance of the Ascend 910 series chips has reached 96% of that of the NVIDIA H100, and the breakthrough in ultra-large-scale AI training efficiency has been achieved through architecture optimization (such as the MoE model developed by Huawei's Pangu team), which directly threatens the market dominance of U.S. enterprises. The U.S. ban provides "official certification" of Ascend's technological prowess.
2. Loosening of ecological barriers
Huawei's Ascend MindSpore framework has been adapted to more than 3,000 AI scenarios, and its open-source strategy has attracted developers from all over the world, gradually breaking the monopoly of NVIDIA's CUDA. The United States is worried about the rise of the Ascend ecosystem, and even does not hesitate to delay its development by taking extreme measures such as "global ban", which highlights the feasibility of China's technological route.
3. Cognitive restructuring of the global market
The "long-arm statue" nature of the U.S. ban, such as the threat of sanctions against third-country companies that use Ascend chips, forces other countries to reassess the risks of technology dependence. Huawei's "open-source model + Ascend hardware" solution jointly launched by DeepSeek is being regarded as an alternative option in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other regions, objectively accelerating the formation of a "de-beautified" supply chain.
Ⅲ. Coping strategy: the dual path of technological breakthrough and institutional countermeasures
1. Huawei's technical response
1. Breakthrough in production capacity and process
Huawei is accelerating the independence of chip manufacturing, working with SMIC and other companies to tackle the 7nm process, and at the same time accelerating the construction of "de-beautification" and "autonomy" of the entire industry chain, including chip design, manufacturing, and packaging.
2. Architecture innovation makes up for the shortcomings of the manufacturing process
The Ascend 920 uses the "computing building block" architecture to achieve efficient multi-chip collaboration through heterogeneous computing interconnection protocols, making up for the disadvantages of a single chip process with system-level optimization, and increasing the performance density to 1.5 times that of similar international products.
3. Ecological closed-loop construction
Cooperate with Chinese AI companies (such as Yuntian Lifei and Cambrian) to build a full-chain adaptation of "chip-framework-application", and expand application scenarios through computing power cooperation projects with the Middle East and ASEAN, and form regional technical standards.
2. Institutional countermeasures at the national level
1. The legal and diplomatic game
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for politicizing science and technology issues, and is likely to respond through WTO litigation and anti-sanctions legislation such as the Measures for Blocking the Improper Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Laws and Measures. At the same time, it has promoted the formulation of international technical standards, such as Huawei's heterogeneous computing interconnection protocol, which has been supported by 67 countries.
2. Industrial policy support
The third phase of the National Fund focuses on investing in the research and development of AI chips, local governments (such as Shanghai and Guangdong) have set up special subsidies to encourage the procurement of domestic chips, and guided Internet giants (Alibaba and Tencent) to give priority to adopting the Ascend solution through tax incentives.
3. Breakthrough in international cooperation
Deepen computing cooperation with the Middle East and Russia (e.g., Saudi Arabia has shifted 40% of AI orders to Ascend), promote the joint construction of the semiconductor industry chain in Southeast Asia under the RCEP framework, and form a closed-loop collaboration network of "technology-market-resources".
Ⅳ. The future trend: the dynamic game of blockade and countermeasures
1. Short-term pain and long-term opportunity
The ban may force some Chinese companies that rely on overseas business, such as ByteDance, to switch to Nvidia's castrated chips in the short term, but it will also accelerate the process of domestic substitution. The market share of Cambrian and other manufacturers has jumped from 12% in 2022 to 38% in 2025, and the substitution cost has dropped by 60%.
2. Restructuring of the global industrial chain
The U.S. has tried to maintain its hegemony through "technology barriers" such as allowing exports of Nvidia chips to Saudi Arabia and banning China, but Huawei's surge in orders from Ascend and plans to build factories in Southeast Asia suggest that the lockdown has activated the construction of diversified supply chains.
3. Risks and reflections of the technological Cold War
Bill Gates has warned that "technology blockade is self-defeating", and that U.S. equipment manufacturers have lost more than $5 billion in revenue due to the loss of the Chinese market, and China's low-cost advantage in mature process chips (30% lower than international prices) is reshaping the global competitive landscape. This game may prove that the inclusiveness of an open ecosystem will eventually prevail over the coercion of a closed system.
All in all, this move by the United States will certainly be another "shooting themselves in the foot".
