Huawei just open-sourced two AI models from its Pangu series and some model reasoning tech. The move aims to boost Huawei’s AI ecosystem and ramp up overseas growth despite U.S. blacklist hurdles.
The Chinese giant announced the releases on Weibo Monday, joining others like Baidu, which also open-sourced its Ernie large language models the same day. Experts say this cements Huawei as a serious open-source player and strengthens its foothold across the AI hardware and software stack.
Paul Triolo of DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group called Huawei a “muscular technology juggernaut straddling the entire AI hardware and software stack.” The move supports Huawei’s “Ascend ecosystem strategy,” which centers on its Ascend AI chips — strong rivals to Nvidia’s, despite U.S. export restrictions on American chips to China. 
Huawei’s Pangu models are focused on specialized sectors like government, finance, and manufacturing, rather than broad capabilities. Analysts say open-sourcing the models encourages developers to customize them, boosting Huawei’s broader AI product use.
Lian Jye Su from Omdia said open-sourcing “is expected to incentivize the use of other Huawei products.” Marc Einstein at Counterpoint Research noted Huawei’s strategy targets hardware sales by pushing open-source software, which differs from rivals.
“Huawei is not as strong as companies like DeepSeek and Baidu at the overall software level – but it doesn’t need to be,”
Marc Einstein, Counterpoint Research
Ray Wang from Constellation Research compares Huawei’s chip-and-model approach to Google’s strategy, which also combines AI chips and open-source models like Gemma.
The open-source launch is also part of Huawei’s international push, with a focus on price-sensitive markets in developing countries, according to Einstein. Huawei invites global developers and partners to download its models, gather feedback, and improve.
The company is also expanding its AI data center solutions globally, continuing its gradual push into new markets beyond China.
“Huawei’s open-source strategy will resonate well in developing countries where enterprises are more price-sensitive as is the case with [Huawei’s] other products,”
Marc Einstein, Counterpoint Research
