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China-based Huawei to test AI chip aiming to rival Nvidia: Report

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Chinese tech giant Huawei has reportedly developed a powerful artificial intelligence chip that could rival high-end processors from US chip maker Nvidia.

The Shenzhen-based Huawei is poised to start testing a new AI chip called the Ascend 910D, and has approached local tech firms, which are slated to receive the first batch of sample chips by late May, The Wall Street Journal reported on April 27, citing people familiar with the matter.

The development is still at an early stage, and a series of tests will be needed to assess the chip’s performance and get it ready for customers.

Huawei is pinning hopes on its latest Ascend AI processor being more powerful than Nvidia’s H100 chip, which was used for AI training in 2022.

Huawei is also poised to ship more than 800,000 earlier model Ascend 910B and 910C chips to customers, including state-owned telecoms operators and private AI developers such as TikTok parent ByteDance.

Beijing has also reportedly encouraged Chinese AI developers to increase purchases of domestic chips as trade tensions between China and the US escalate. 

In mid-April, Nvidia stated that it was expecting around $5.5 billion in charges associated with its AI chip inventory due to significant export restrictions imposed by the US government affecting its business with China. 

The Trump administration added Nvidia’s H20 chip, its most powerful processor that could be sold to China, to a growing list of semiconductors restricted for sale to the country.

Some key components for AI chips, such as the latest high-bandwidth memory units, have also been restricted for export to China by the US. 

Huawei is focusing on building more efficient and faster systems, such as CloudMatrix 384, a computing system unveiled in April, connecting Ascend 910C chips. This would leverage their chip arrays and use brute force rather than making individual processors more powerful.

China seeks self-reliance on AI

Reuters reported on April 26, citing state media reports, that Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged “self-reliance and self-strengthening” to develop AI in the country.

“We must recognise the gaps and redouble our efforts to comprehensively advance technological innovation, industrial development, and AI-empowered applications,” Xi said at a Politburo meeting study session on April 25.

Donald Trump (left) meeting with Xi Jinping (right) in 2018 at the G20. Source: Dan Scavino

Related: US Senate bill threatens crypto, AI data centers with fees — Report

“We must continue to strengthen basic research, concentrate our efforts on mastering core technologies such as high-end chips and basic software, and build an independent, controllable, and collaborative artificial intelligence basic software and hardware system,” Xi added.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Xi to contact him for discussions about a potential trade deal after his administration imposed 145% tariffs on most Chinese goods. 

China has stated that it is not having any talks with the US and that the country should “stop creating confusion.”

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‘No questions asked’ Bitcoin launderer gets 6 years in prison

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A US man operating what prosecutors called a “no questions asked” cash-to-Bitcoin conversion service has been sentenced to six years behind bars and was ordered to hand over millions of dollars. 

Boston federal court Judge Richard Stearns sentenced Trung Nguyen, from Danvers, Massachusetts, to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to forfeit $1.5 million, the Boston US Attorney’s Office said on May 22. 

Prosecutors said Nguyen ran an unlicensed money-transmitting business called National Vending between September 2017 and October 2020, which used various techniques he learned in an online course to evade authorities.

As part of the course, Nguyen was taught how to conceal his actual business from banks, crypto exchanges and state authorities by masquerading as a vending machine company that accepted cash deposits, had a list of fictional suppliers, and generally avoided using the phrase “Bitcoin” where possible.

Prosecutors say Trung Nguyen operated a fake vending machine business to obscure the cash deposits he was receiving. Source: Pacer

According to prosecutors, among Nguyen’s customer base were several scam victims who were tricked into converting cash into Bitcoin (BTC) by con artists overseas, as well as a drug dealer who sent $250,000 in cash across 10 transactions in 2018.

The Justice Department said Nguyen converted more than $1 million to Bitcoin and “purposely failed” to register with the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) despite being required to do so under federal Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

Nguyen also “failed to file Suspicious Activity Reports or Currency Transaction Reports on any of these transactions, including cash transactions of more than $10,000,” according to prosecutors.

Undercover cops sting Nguyen

Nguyen would often meet his clients in person to accept large sums of cash, which is how he was caught, prosecutors said.

A May 2023 indictment said that during several meetings with undercover law enforcement officers, he accepted cash and sent Bitcoin in return, taking just over 5% in commission.

Related: Crypto use in money laundering ‘far below’ cash — US Treasury

The indictment said Nguyen used encrypted messaging apps and “technologies that made it more difficult” to trace his Bitcoin transactions and broke up the cash deposits into smaller sums over consecutive days and at different branches of the same bank to evade notice by authorities.

Nguyen was charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and two counts of money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in June 2023.

A jury convicted him in November on the unlicensed money-transmitting business charge and on just one of the money laundering charges, finding him not guilty of a separate money laundering charge.

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Crypto perp futures coming ‘very soon,’ says CFTC’s Mersinger

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Crypto perpetual futures contracts could receive regulatory approval in the US “very soon,” says outgoing Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Summer Mersinger.

Perpetual crypto futures “can come to market now,” Mersinger told Bloomberg TV on May 22. 

“We’re seeing some applications, and I believe we’ll see some of those products trading live very soon,” she said, adding it would be “great to get that trading back onshore in the United States.” 

Mersinger, who will leave the CFTC at the end of May, said having crypto derivatives trading and regulated in the US would be a “really good thing for these markets and would be really beneficial to the industry broadly.”

Crypto perpetual futures are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate on the price of cryptocurrencies without actually owning them. Unlike traditional futures contracts that have expiration dates, perpetual futures can be held indefinitely. They can also be traded with high leverage.

Summer Mersinger on Bloomberg TV. Source: YouTube

Crypto perpetuals are not currently permitted in the US and are traded on large offshore centralized exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit. 

Binance is the largest with almost $95 billion in perpetual trading volume per day, according to CoinGecko. It offers over 500 crypto perpetual pairs with up to 125x leverage.

Related: BitMEX CEO explains how perpetual swaps test altcoin value

Mersinger said that the recent procedural vote to move forward the GENIUS stablecoin bill signifies “this asset class is clearly here to stay.” 

“We really are going to make the United States the forefront of economic power that we can see from these tokens and this asset class.” 

Mersinger leaving the CFTC

At the end of May, Mersinger will leave the CFTC to work at the Blockchain Association, a trade group with over 100 members that represents the crypto industry and economy. 

On May 14, the Blockchain Association announced that its current CEO, Kristin Smith, would step down and Mersinger would assume the role on June 2. 

“We have a very strong incoming [CFTC] chairman who has a great voice for the crypto industry and will be a real advocate for the industry and the agency at large,” she said, adding that she hopes to contribute more to the crypto industry through her new position. 

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Swedish health firm jumps 37% on first Bitcoin buy, China EV seller to buy 1K BTC

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Shares in Swedish health tech company H100 Group AB rose 37% after it said it purchased Bitcoin for the first time as part of a new strategy, while China’s Jiuzi Holdings revealed its plan to stack 1,000 Bitcoin over the next year.

H100 said on May 22 that it spent 5 million Norwegian krone ($490,830) buying 4.39 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average purchasing price of around $111,785.

The company’s shares closed May 22 trading up 37% to 1.22 Swedish krona ($0.13) on the Nordic Growth Market following its disclosure of its Bitcoin purchase, Bloomberg data shows. 

Source: H100

The strong trading day recovered some losses from the past two months, during which the firm’s shares have fallen by over 46%.

H100’s change in share price so far in 2025. Source: Bloomberg

The firm’s CEO, Sander Andersen, said he believes “the values of individual sovereignty highly present in the Bitcoin community aligns well with, and will appeal to, the customers and communities we are building the H100 platform for.”

H100 sells health tools for individuals who don’t want to rely on the “reactive health system,” Andersen said in a separate X post.

Andersen marked the first Bitcoin announcement and purchase as “Phase 1,” hinting at further buys.

China’s Jiuzi Holdings to stack 1,000 Bitcoin

Meanwhile, on May 22, the Nasdaq-listed Chinese electric vehicle retailer Jiuzi Holdings said its board approved a plan to buy 1,000 Bitcoin over the next year through additional stock issuance and cash purchases.

Related: Bitcoin continues rally to surpass $110K for the first time

The company’s CEO, Tao Li, acknowledged the volatility that comes with investing in Bitcoin but is hopeful the move will strengthen the firm’s asset structure, risk resistance and profitability.

Jiuzi (JZXN) rose 7.3% to $3.09 on May 22, Google Finance data shows — a comparatively minor rise compared to other public companies that have recently announced Bitcoin buys.

Adopting Bitcoin as a treasury asset has become an increasingly popular trend of late, with 109 public firms now holding the cryptocurrency on their balance sheets, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET data.

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