DeepSeek open-sources Huawei chip development tools as an alternative to NVIDIA's CUDA framework.

DeepSeek has open-sourced a set of programming tools for Huawei's Ascend AI chips, including TileLang, a programming language designed as a simpler alternative to Nvidia's CUDA. The announcement came Wednesday via the Chinese AI lab's WeChat account.

The release comprises six software modules and compute and communication libraries for the Ascend platform, with full support from Huawei during development. DeepSeek and Huawei have also collaborated on a "supernode" system built from 128 Ascend 950 chips.

"To build a new generation of independent, self-controlled GPU software ecosystems, the first priority is establishing a high-level language that is universal, easy to program, and still capable of reaching the hardware's full performance potential," DeepSeek said in a statement. The tools are free to download, and the two companies plan to collaborate on additional projects.

DeepSeek first tested TileLang on older Nvidia chips and now uses the language as its "core tool" for work on artificial general intelligence—a contrast to Nvidia's CUDA platform, which has an estimated four million developers. DeepSeek plans to deploy at least 160,000 Huawei accelerators in a data centre in Inner Mongolia. The company is currently raising funds at a valuation close to 500 billion yuan, approximately $74 billion.

The release coincides with Huawei's broader push in AI semiconductors. Two weeks prior, Huawei unveiled its next-generation Ascend chips. Despite strong demand, Huawei cannot meet current orders and plans to restrict sales outside China. "We cannot accept a destiny where we cannot control our fate," said Eric Xu, Huawei's rotating chairman.

The timing reflects pressures from US export controls that limit Chinese companies' access to Nvidia's most advanced chips. Huawei executives have argued that China must accelerate its AI development to understand its implications. Meanwhile, DeepSeek's annualized revenue run rate recently reached $1 billion.