Huawei launched what it claims is the world’s most powerful AI processor – the Ascend 910 – as well as an AI computing framework called MindSpore designed to simplify and speed up AI application development.

Eric Xu, Huawei’s rotating chairman (pictured), said the release of the processor, which is part of the company’s series of Ascend-Max chipsets, marks a new stage in its AI strategy, which it first announced in October 2018. Since then, he said the company has made steady progress, with the Ascend 910 delivering on its performance goals with much lower power consumption than originally planned.

“Without a doubt, it has more computing power than any other AI processor in the world.”

Speaking at a press event in Shenzhen today (23 August), Xu said Huawei will continue investing in AI processors to deliver more abundant, affordable and adaptable computing power that meets the needs of a broad range of applications, including edge computing and on-vehicle computing for autonomous driving.

AI computing frameworks are critical to speeding up AI application development, making AI applications more accessible and ensuring privacy protection, the company said in a statement.

The processor was developed for use in AI model training. The company said the combination of the Ascend 910 and MindSpore will enable about two-times faster training of AI models than other mainstream training cards using Google’s TensorFlow.

The new processor will be available in China in September and overseas in Q1 2020. MindSpore will go open-source in January.