Published: 19 October 2026

Nvidia’s share of China’s data-center AI accelerator market fell to 34% in the first half of 2026, while Huawei reached 28%, per an IDC report seen by Reuters. US export restrictions constrained Nvidia’s supplies as Chinese chipmakers expanded shipments.

Key points

• Nvidia shipped 678,000 AI accelerators in China between January and June, down 44% from a year earlier.

• - Huawei shipped 572,000, compared with more than 300,000 in the same period last year.

• - The chips are used to train AI models and run inference.

• - Alibaba’s T-Head accounted for 7% of shipments, followed by Cambricon at 5%, Kunlunxin at 4% and Hygon at 3%.

• - Nine of the 11 Chinese suppliers tracked by IDC increased shipments during the period.

• Background and analysis. China's technology sector continues to move fast on AI infrastructure, with custom silicon and domestic supply chains gaining momentum. Developments here are closely tracked by regional players evaluating their own chip and data centre strategies.

• Our take. For anyone building or buying AI infrastructure, the practical lesson is to plan further ahead than instinct suggests. Whether the bottleneck is silicon, transformers or optical links, the winners are securing their constraints years before they need them.

• Source: TechNode, "Nvidia’s China AI-chip share falls to 34% as Huawei reaches 28%", 14 October 2026. https://technode.com/2026/10/14/nvidias-china-ai-chip-share-falls-to-34-as-huawei-reaches-28/