Nvidia held 34% of China's data-centre AI accelerator market in the first half of 2026, while Huawei reached 28%, according to IDC data reported by Reuters on October 13. The newly reported figures show a narrowing gap between the suppliers as US export restrictions limit Nvidia's offerings and China promotes domestic alternatives.
Nvidia shipped 678,000 accelerators in China from January through June, down 44% from a year earlier, Reuters reported. These specialised processors support the training and operation of artificial intelligence models. The figures describe shipments during that six-month period, rather than current orders or worldwide market shares.
Huawei delivered 572,000 units, compared with more than 300,000 a year earlier, according to the IDC figures also reported by Aju Press. Its 28% share left it six percentage points behind Nvidia. Nine of the 11 Chinese suppliers tracked by IDC increased shipments, indicating that the expansion extended beyond Huawei.
Aju Press reported that Alibaba's T-Head held 7% of the market, followed by Cambricon at 5%, Baidu's Kunlunxin at 4% and Hygon at 3%. Reuters said Washington's restrictions reduced the range of Nvidia chips available in China, while Beijing encouraged local products and required approval for imports of compliant Nvidia chips.
The product mix changed too. According to Aju Press, citing IDC, GPU shipments fell 26% to 991,000 units, while other AI accelerators rose about 80% to 1.016 million, overtaking GPUs by volume. These other processors specialise in particular AI calculations or inference tasks, including running already trained models.
Reuters reported that IDC did not identify which Nvidia products were included in its market-share figure. The report therefore leaves the precise product breakdown unresolved. Looking ahead, IDC expects China's overall AI accelerator shipments to grow 19% in 2026, while GPU shipments fall 9%, according to reporting on its forecast.
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