Huawei HiSilicon vs Moore Threads
Huawei HiSilicon holds the stronger position because it already dominates China's AI chip market with no visible customer loss, while Moore Threads is still losing money and getting outsold by Huawei and Cambricon at home.
Huawei HiSilicon
Huawei's chip design arm, maker of Ascend AI accelerators and Kirin smartphone chips for China
Moore Threads
Chinese GPU maker building AI chips to fill the gap left by Nvidia export bans
Dimension by dimension
| Dimension | Huawei HiSilicon | Moore Threads |
|---|---|---|
| Staying power of the core product | Kirin phone chips and Ascend AI accelerators face no meaningful customer loss, keeping Huawei entrenched in both smartphone and AI accelerator segments. | GPUs meant to fill the Nvidia gap remain losing its protection, competing against Huawei's Ascend line and Cambricon in a market where Nvidia's China share has already collapsed. |
| Exposure to AI absorbing the product | Rated unlikely to be swallowed by AI itself. | Also rated unlikely to be swallowed by AI itself. |
| How easily a giant copies them | Kirin and Ascend sit behind export-control and supply-chain barriers that make replication by a larger rival difficult. | Moore Threads' GPU approach leaves an opening that a larger competitor could replicate. |
| Pressure from rivals | No meaningful customer loss is visible in the evidence. | Squeezed by Huawei Ascend's 21% China AI-chip share and by Cambricon, which is profitable and earns roughly four times Moore Threads' revenue. |
| Market share trend in China's AI chip market | Projected at roughly 50% of China's AI chip market, with Huawei and Cambricon together holding about 80% of China AI server share as Nvidia's share collapsed from about 95% to about 8%. | Not named among the leading shares in the same data, and described as being outsold by both Huawei and Cambricon in its own home market. |
| Financial footing | No revenue or profit figures are given, only market share numbers showing a dominant and growing position. | FY2025 revenue of about RMB 1.505 billion grew 243% year over year, but the company posted a net loss of RMB 1.001 billion and spent 86.7% of revenue on R&D. |
Questions people ask
- Which company has more market share in China's AI chip market, Huawei or Moore Threads?
- Huawei, through HiSilicon's Ascend chips, is projected to hold about 50% of China's AI chip market and, combined with Cambricon, about 80% of China's AI server share. Moore Threads does not appear among the leading shares in the same figures and is described as being outsold by both of those rivals.
- Is Moore Threads profitable?
- No. Moore Threads posted a net loss of RMB 1.001 billion in FY2025, though that loss narrowed 38% from the prior year as revenue grew 243% to about RMB 1.505 billion. Huawei HiSilicon's digest does not report profit or loss figures, only its dominant and growing market share.
- Can a bigger company copy Huawei HiSilicon or Moore Threads?
- Huawei HiSilicon's position is rated blocked, meaning a giant competitor cannot simply replicate it. Moore Threads is rated possible, meaning a larger player copying its approach remains a realistic risk.
- How fast is Moore Threads growing compared to Huawei's chip business?
- Moore Threads' revenue grew 243% year over year to about RMB 1.505 billion in FY2025, a fast pace, but it still lost RMB 1.001 billion. Huawei's Ascend and Kirin chips are not shown with a revenue growth figure, but its market share numbers point to an already dominant and expanding position in China.
Other comparisons with these companies