Huawei Technologies unveiled its latest Atlas 960 SuperPoD computing cluster and an upgraded UnifiedBus interconnect protocol on Thursday, part of a broader push to build advanced AI infrastructure despite continued US semiconductor curbs.
At its Huawei Connect 2026 conference in Shanghai, the Shenzhen-based firm introduced near-packaged optics, a placement structure enabling higher speeds and lower energy use, into its SuperPoD architecture for the first time, the South China Morning Post reported.
Combined with its Hi-ONE optical system, the technology would let a SuperPoD connect as many as 4,000 processors, extending high-speed optical connections deeper into computing systems.
The Atlas 960 SuperPoD, powered by Ascend 960 chips, promises a 2.3-fold improvement in training and 2.5-fold improvement in inference for 10-trillion-parameter models compared with its predecessor, the Atlas 950 SuperPoD, which Huawei rolled out commercially last year and has since sold in more than 1,000 units.
Separately, Nikkei Asia reported that Huawei introduced more than 10 chipsets for AI computing infrastructure at the event, including next-generation AI accelerators, CPUs and high-speed connectivity chips, as it races to challenge Nvidia's dominant position in the AI industry.
David Wang Tao, Huawei's rotating and acting chairman, said, "Supernodes are an inevitable choice for building ultra-large-scale data centres," according to the SCMP, adding that the company was set to begin mass production of what he called the world's first NPO product with an integrated light source.
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Wang said development of the Ascend 960 DT chip, designed for AI model training, was ahead of schedule, with its launch brought forward by three quarters to the first quarter of 2027.
The Ascend 960 PR chip for inference is also being moved up by a quarter, to the third quarter of 2027, with the Ascend 970 and 980 to follow in 2028 and 2029 under an annual upgrade cycle.
The launch builds on Huawei's UnifiedBus 2.0 protocol, unveiled in September last year, and comes as the company separately disclosed a 256,000-node single AI computing system spanning more than 200,000 machines.
The announcements land ahead of high-level trade talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump later this month, at which AI and semiconductor export controls are expected to be a top agenda item.
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