According to KDC‘s Battle for Computing Power Foundation: China’s AI-Computing Chip Industrial Chain,Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis, As artificial intelligence moves into large-scale industrial adoption, intelligent computing chips serve as critical foundational infrastructure for China’s AI industry. KDC released its whitepaper at the 2026 China Intelligent Computing Industry Ecological Annual Conference, noting that policy support, technological breakthroughs and shifting global supply-chain conditions are reshaping China’s intelligent computing chip landscape.
China’s domestic AI accelerator-card market is witnessing rapid volume expansion amid international supply-chain constraints. Domestic vendors captured a 41.3% market share in 2025 and are projected to cross the 50% threshold in 2026. The market is shifting away from NVIDIA’s prior single-player dominance toward an “one-leader-plus-multiple-strong-players” competitive structure.
Domestic chip participants are pursuing full-stack capability building beyond pure hardware performance. Internet giants are transforming from chip buyers into in-house developers, while independent chip firms compete via differentiated technical routes across vertical sectors, bringing new layers of complexity to market rivalry.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Domestic substitution accelerates within China’s AI accelerator-card market. Total Chinese AI accelerator-card shipments reached roughly 4.0 million units in 2025. Domestic vendors shipped 1.65 million cards (+65% YoY), lifting domestic market share from 34.5% in 2024 to 41.3%. Domestic shipments are projected to hit 2.3 million units in 2026, representing a 51.1% market share and securing domestic market leadership.
Huawei Ascend recorded 812 thousand shipments in 2025 and is forecast for 1.026 million units in 2026. Alibaba Pingtouge and Baidu Kunlunchip posted 265 thousand and 116 thousand shipments respectively in 2025. Cambricon is expected to deliver 350 thousand chips in 2026. Hygon generated Q1 2026 revenue of RMB 4.034 billion (+68% YoY).
Product and ecosystem progress co-exists with critical supply-chain bottlenecks. Huawei Ascend 950-series achieves over 95% CUDA compatibility and 2 TB/s interconnection bandwidth; internet enterprises will account for more than 60% of its 2026 demand. Baidu Kunlunchip secured approximately 20 thousand external orders in 2026. Cambricon’s MLU690 is constrained by bottlenecks in advanced packaging and HBM component supply.
A three-camp competitive structure emerges while NVIDIA’s domestic market position weakens. Under export-control restrictions, large-scale supply of NVIDIA high-end training chips to China is highly unlikely. NVIDIA will primarily compete in domestic inference-oriented scenarios. As domestic chips improve in performance and software maturity, market competition focus will further shift toward local suppliers throughout 2026.
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