Huawei Unveils World’s First NPO-Based AI SuperPoD With 4,096 Processors

Huawei has introduced the Atlas 960E SuperPoD, a new large-scale AI computing system designed for training and inference workloads involving increasingly sizeable AI models.

Key points

• While the Ascend 960 PR is projected in Q3 2027, the Ascend 960 DT is scheduled for Q1 2027.
• The Atlas 960E uses around 5, 500 Hi-ONE units, replacing roughly 48, 000 conventional 800G optical modules.
• Huawei then intends to introduce the Ascend 970 in 2028, followed by the Ascend 980 in 2029.
• Its upgraded TaiShan 950 SuperPoD supports up to 4, 096 nodes and provides a 256TB unified memory pool.
• Huawei notes the Atlas 960E is the industry's first SuperPoD built around Near-Packaged Optics, or NPO, and is designed to backing AI models approaching 10 trillion parameters.

Notably, the firm unveiled the system on September 17 at HUAWEI CONNECT 2026 in Shanghai.

Huawei to Take on Nvidia in AI Chip Market in Q1 2027. Built for Large-Scale AI.

Meanwhile, the Atlas 960E combines Huawei's UnifiedBus technology, additionally known as Lingqu, with the company's Hi-ONE optical system.

For context, the architecture uses unified memory addressing, allowing computing resources throughout the system to operate more like a single computing environment rather than separate machines.

Meanwhile, a single Atlas 960E SuperPoD can backing up to 4, 096 Ascend AI processors.

Huawei notes the system can deliver up to 8 EFLOPS of FP8 performance and 16 EFLOPS of FP4 performance.

Notably, the Atlas 960E additionally uses a fully liquid-cooled design and an orthogonal system architecture. Hi-ONE Reduces Optical Hardware.

In practice, a major part of the system is Huawei's Hi-ONE NPO optical engine.

Huawei notes each Hi-ONE unit supports up to 7.2 terabits per second of transmission capacity and includes an integrated light source.

Notably, the Atlas 960E uses around 5, 500 Hi-ONE units, replacing roughly 48, 000 conventional 800G optical modules.

According to Huawei, the design can reduce power consumption by more than 550kW.

Meanwhile, the firm additionally claims the system can double fault-free operating time and achieve 99.8% system availability. Scaling to 1 Million AI Processors. Huawei intends to extend the SuperPoD architecture beyond AI accelerators.

Its upgraded TaiShan 950 SuperPoD supports up to 4, 096 nodes and provides a 256TB unified memory pool. The OceanStor M900, meanwhile, provides petabyte-scale key-value caching for AI workloads.

Huawei additionally aims to connect multiple Atlas 960E SuperPoDs into much larger AI clusters using UnifiedBus and RoCE networking.

For context, the firm states the architecture can connect up to 512, 000 AI processors.

Using a multi-rail topology, Huawei notes an Ascend SuperCluster can scale to as numerous as 1 million processors. The Atlas 960E SuperPoD is scheduled to launch in Q3 2027. Huawei is additionally preparing a number of new generations of Ascend AI processors.

Huawei then intends to introduce the Ascend 970 in 2028, followed by the Ascend 980 in 2029. Huawei's Second Tri-Fold Improves Screen Protection With New Inward Folding Design. Huawei Atlas 960E SuperPoD Specifications. Feature Huawei Atlas 960E SuperPoD. AI Model Target Up to 10 trillion parameters. NPO Optical Engine Hi-ONE. Transmission Capacity 7.2 Tbit/s. Maximum Ascend Cards 4, 096. FP8 Performance 8 EFLOPS. FP4 Performance 16 EFLOPS. Optical Modules 5, 500 Hi-ONE. Replaced 800G Modules Around 48, 000. Asserted Power Reduction Over 550kW. System Availability 99.8%. Maximum SuperCluster Scale Up to 1 million Ascend processors.

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