An IDC (International Data Corporation) report cited by Reuters on October 13 shows NVIDIA's share of China's data center AI chip market fell to 34% in the first half of 2026. US export controls have restricted what NVIDIA can supply, while domestic rivals led by Huawei have picked up part of the market.

Shipments and Share: NVIDIA Down 44% Year-on-Year, Huawei Up to 572,000 Units

IDC data shows NVIDIA shipped 678,000 AI accelerators in China between January and June, down 44% year-on-year. AI accelerators are specialized chips used to train and run AI models.

Huawei shipped 572,000 AI accelerators, up from just over 300,000 a year earlier, giving it a 28% share of the Chinese market.

Vendor shares in the Chinese market ranked as follows:

  • NVIDIA: 34%
  • Huawei: 28%
  • Alibaba's T-Head: 7%
  • Cambricon: 5%
  • Baidu's Kunlunxin: 4%
  • Hygon: 3%

Nine of the 11 Chinese chipmakers IDC tracks shipped more units than they did a year earlier.

Structural Shift: Non-GPU Accelerators Overtake GPUs by Volume

Total AI accelerator shipments in China reached 2.008 million units in the first half of the year. Graphics processing units (GPUs), commonly used to train AI models, fell 26% to 991,000 units, with IDC noting that supply of products sellable in mainland China remains limited.

Shipments of other types of AI accelerators grew nearly 80% to 1.016 million units, overtaking GPUs by volume. The category covers chips designed for specific AI tasks, such as running already-trained models.

Huawei, T-Head, Kunlunxin and Cambricon together hold 95% of the non-GPU segment. IDC says chips in this category are being adopted widely by government agencies, internet companies and telecom operators.

Competitive Focus: From Single-Chip Performance to System Capability

IDC notes that competition is shifting from the performance of individual chips to system-level capability, including how well chips work together in large computing clusters.

The firm also expects total AI accelerator shipments in China to grow 19% this year, even with GPU shipments potentially declining 9%.

Background: A Narrower Sellable Range Under Export Controls

US restrictions on NVIDIA's AI chips, aimed mainly at its newer and more powerful products, have narrowed the range of what the company can sell in the world's second-largest economy.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly criticized Washington's export controls. In a May 21 interview with CNBC, he said the policy is forcing NVIDIA to hand a $50 billion Chinese chip market to Huawei.

IDC did not specify which NVIDIA products make up the 34% share.