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Huawei Ascend 910C vs Cambricon MLU690: Spec Comparison & Buyer's Guide

In AI infrastructure selection, Huawei Ascend 910C and Cambricon MLU690 are two accelerators frequently compared. This article contrasts them item by item — architecture, compute, memory, power, and release cadence — to help you quickly judge which fits training or inference workloads.

Spec Comparison Table​

VendorHuawei Ascend 910CCambricon MLU690
VendorHuaweiCambricon
ArchitectureDa VinciMLUarch
Process7nm -class5nm -class
Release Date2024-04-242025
FP8 Compute——
FP16 Compute—700+ TFLOPS
FP32 Compute——
INT8 Compute—2,800+ TOPS
Memory Type——
Memory Capacity8× HBM3196 GB HBM3
Memory Bandwidth—3.35 TB/s
TDP Power310 W~500 W

Key Differences​

  • Power: Huawei Ascend 910C has a TDP of 310 W, lower than Cambricon MLU690's ~500 W, friendlier to datacenter PUE and cooling.
  • Memory capacity: Cambricon MLU690 packs 196 GB HBM3, more than Huawei Ascend 910C's 8× HBM3, more comfortable for single-card hosting of very large models.

Selection Advice​

  • When chasing extreme single-card compute and a mature toolchain, prioritize Huawei Ascend 910C; if budget, power wall, or local support are hard constraints, Cambricon MLU690 often fits better. Use this site's AI Compute Card Comparison Tool to validate multiple chips side-by-side before deciding.

FAQ​

What are the main differences between Huawei Ascend 910C and Cambricon MLU690?​

The core difference is architecture and compute density: Huawei Ascend 910C uses Da Vinci, FP8 ~No public FP8 data, memory 8× HBM3; Cambricon MLU690 uses MLUarch, FP8 ~No public FP8 data, memory 196 GB HBM3. See the comparison table above.

What is the TDP (power) of Huawei Ascend 910C?​

Huawei Ascend 910C has a TDP of 310 W; actual whole-system power also includes board, fans, and PUE.

Which is better for large-model training / inference?​

Training values memory capacity, bandwidth, and multi-card interconnect; inference values single-card throughput and power efficiency. Combine the "Key Differences" and "Selection Advice" above with your batch size, model size, and SLA.

How much do Huawei Ascend 910C and Cambricon MLU690 differ in memory capacity?​

Huawei Ascend 910C is 8× HBM3, Cambricon MLU690 is 196 GB HBM3; the gap directly affects loadable model size and context length.