Huawei Ascend NPU roadmap examined — company targets 4 ZettaFLOPS FP4 performance by 2028, amid manufacturing constraints

Huawei unveiled its Ascend NPU roadmap at the Huawei Connect 2025 event, aiming to achieve 4 ZettaFLOPS FP4 performance by 2028. The company faces manufacturing constraints due to a lack of access to leading-edge technologies and memory options, prompting the development of new architectures and memory types for its processors. The roadmap includes the Ascend 950-series, Ascend 960, and Ascend 970 NPUs, featuring improved performance and support for modern data formats. Huawei's AI accelerators will utilize proprietary memory technologies and a UnifiedBus interconnect protocol for enhanced performance and scalability in large-scale AI infrastructure. The company's approach involves building massive AI clusters to compete in the evolving AI landscape, presenting unique software scaling challenges compared to Nvidia's modular systems.