At the Huawei Connect 2026 event, held in Shanghai on September 17th, Chairman David Wang introduced the Ascend 960 SuperPoD as the next-generation supernode for artificial intelligence. The development focus is placed on interconnect scalability rather than single-chip performance.
According to the system description, the Ascend 960 SuperPoD is the first model to utilize Near-Packaged Optics (NPO). This technology integrates Huawei's Lingqu UnifiedBus factory with the Hi-ONE optical engine, enabling optical connections to be placed closer to the chip package.
According to First Finance and related reports, one Ascend 960 SuperPoD can connect approximately 4096 cards with a round-trip latency approaching 2 microseconds. Huawei asserts that these metrics allow for large-scale training and inference of models up to 10 trillion parameters.
Furthermore, broader delivery information was disclosed: Ascend SuperPoD systems have already been shipped to over 1000 customers from more than 370 companies, indicating the architecture's transition from demonstration stands to commercial use.
The chip roadmap has been adjusted. Huawei announced that the Ascend 960DT is planned for release in the first quarter of 2027, and the Ascend 960PR in the third quarter. The liquid Atlas 960 SuperPoD is also scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2027, three quarters earlier than the initial public forecast, which pointed to the end of 2027 for the Ascend 960. Wang also stated that Huawei has developed 11 UnifiedBus-based chips for large systems and confirmed the long-term goal of creating a million-card SuperCluster.
The main emphasis is on system engineering: this includes NPO optics, UnifiedBus, cooling systems, and cluster software, which allow multiple Ascend cards to function as a single machine. Reuters reports confirm the dual 2027 launch dates and the figures of over 1000 supernodes and more than 370 customers, but did not name the buyers. This news differs from Huawei's 'Intelligent World 2035' report published recently, as it presents specific information about the SuperPoD interconnect and the revised Atlas 960 schedule for operators who are already evaluating Ascend clusters.