China Telecom Makes Strides in AI Development with 1 Trillion Parameter Model Trained on Chinese Chips
China Telecom develops two large language models trained on Chinese chips. One model features 1 trillion parameters, showcasing significant AI advancement. Huawei tests new AI chip with potential clients in China as an alternative to Nvidia products.
The Institute of AI at China Telecom revealed that their open-source TeleChat2-115B and another unnamed model were trained on tens of thousands of Chinese chips, demonstrating China's progress towards chip autonomy in AI despite US restrictions on advanced semiconductors.
The unnamed model has an impressive 1 trillion parameters, which is critical in determining the sophistication and effectiveness of an AI system during training. Furthermore, the TeleChat2-115B model has over 100 billion parameters, demonstrating the level of innovation in Chinese AI development.
In response to Washington's export restrictions, Chinese companies are stepping up efforts to improve their AI capabilities and maintain global competitiveness. China Telecom's use of domestically produced chips, potentially including Huawei Technologies' Ascend chips, represents a strategic move to reduce reliance on foreign technology, particularly high-end Nvidia hardware.
Huawei, a US-based company, has started testing a new AI chip, the Ascend 910C processor, with potential clients in China. This initiative aims to provide Chinese server companies and internet giants with viable alternatives to Nvidia products, which have become increasingly difficult to obtain due to export restrictions.
The collaboration between China Telecom and Huawei, combined with the availability of chips from Chinese start-up Cambricon, is expected to boost China's AI industry by providing local firms with alternatives to Nvidia's GPUs for training AI models. As US export restrictions limit access to advanced Nvidia GPUs such as the A100 and H100, Chinese companies are looking into alternative solutions to ensure ongoing support and maintenance services.
China Telecom develops two large language models trained on Chinese chips
One model features 1 trillion parameters, showcasing significant AI advancement
Huawei tests new AI chip with potential clients in China as an alternative to Nvidia products
Source: SCMP