NVIDIA's Market Share in China Drops Below 60%, Domestic AI Chips Seize Market with 1.65 Million Units Delivered Annually
Nvidia's market share in China's AI accelerator card market has declined significantly, dropping from approximately 95% to 55% in 2025, according to IDC data. During the same period, domestic Chinese manufacturers collectively captured 41% of the market, shipping 1.65 million units out of a total market of 4 million units. Huawei led the domestic suppliers with 812,000 units shipped, representing nearly half of the local market share.
This shift is driven by both U.S. export controls and China’s aggressive domestic substitution policies. In November 2025, Beijing mandated that state-funded data centers must use domestic AI chips, accelerating the adoption of local alternatives. Huawei recently launched the Atlas 350 accelerator card, claiming 2.87 times the inference performance of Nvidia’s H20 in low-precision computing, though direct comparisons are complicated by architectural differences.
While Chinese chips still lag behind in training large-scale AI models—estimated to be 5-10 years behind Nvidia—they have reached a "good enough" level for many commercial applications like inference tasks. The main challenge remains software ecosystem development, as Nvidia’s CUDA platform remains the industry standard. Chinese firms are responding with compatibility efforts and open-source initiatives.
Several domestic AI chip companies are now pursuing IPOs, and Huawei continues heavy R&D spending to reduce foreign dependency. Even if U.S. export policies ease, the structural move toward domestic AI chips appears irreversible.
marsbit04/03 05:51
