Ascend processors are central to Beijing’s effort to build a self-reliant AI industry and reduce dependence on US technology
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenIgor Patrickin Rio de JaneiroPublished: 11:37pm, 12 Jun 2026Huawei Technologies is studying whether to run its newest Ascend artificial intelligence chips inside its cloud and AI services in Latin America, a senior executive has confirmed, in a move that would push Chinese-designed hardware deeper into a region long courted by US suppliers.
Mark Chen, president of Huawei Cloud Latin America, gave the confirmation in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post after his presentation at the Rio Web Summit, the technology and innovation gathering hosted by the Brazilian city this week.
Chen declined to give a timeline, describing Huawei’s newest chip generation Ascend 950 family as “still in the early stages” of deployment at home.
Huawei launched the first of those chips, the 950PR, commercially in China in March, showing it alongside its Atlas 350 computing cluster, a group of chips wired to work as one.
Chinese AI firms have since started using it, with Alibaba and ByteDance among the buyers and DeepSeek running its latest models on the line.
