On January 4, 2026, a significant leap forward occurred in China's intelligent driving computing chip sector. Black Sesame Technologies proudly declared that its Huashan A2000 chip, tailored for cutting-edge intelligent driving applications, has successfully navigated through the rigorous evaluations of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Department of Defense, securing the green light for global sales and deployment.

This endorsement marks a pivotal achievement, eliminating a major international regulatory barrier and paving the way for this high-performance chip to enter widespread commercial use. It offers automakers worldwide a robust computing solution for their advanced intelligent driving systems.

The journey to this approval was arduous. The Huashan A2000 chip achieved successful tape-out in January 2025, initiating a review process by pertinent U.S. agencies. Through nearly a year of meticulous technical explanations and ongoing dialogue between Black Sesame Technologies and U.S. entities, the sales authorization was finally granted.

Remarkably, Black Sesame Technologies stands as the sole domestic enterprise to date whose advanced automotive-grade computing chip has cleared such U.S. reviews, significantly bolstering its globalization strategy.

For the global intelligent driving landscape, the A2000 chip's entry fosters supply chain diversification and competitive dynamism. Black Sesame Technologies expressed its commitment to deepening collaborations with industry partners, expediting the chip's integration into mass-produced vehicle projects, and collectively propelling intelligent driving technology to new heights of sophistication and accessibility.

The Huashan A2000 chip's attainment of global sales eligibility was no overnight feat but a testament to Black Sesame Technologies' technological prowess and strategic fortitude. Since its triumphant tape-out in early 2025, the chip's sophisticated design and exceptional performance have proactively triggered the scrutiny of relevant U.S. departments.

Over the ensuing months, the company engaged in numerous rounds of clarifications and consultations with the U.S. Department of Commerce and Department of Defense, addressing the chip's technical intricacies, application domains, and safety assurances.

The essence of this review was a holistic evaluation of the chip's core technological attributes, potential applications, and supply chain security. Its successful passage not only attests to the A2000 chip's compliance with international market standards but also underscores Black Sesame Technologies' success in fostering technological transparency and adhering to global norms.

This milestone distinguishes Black Sesame Technologies as the only current "passer" in this category among domestic peers, securing its products' presence in the international market and significantly enhancing its brand's credibility within the global automotive supply chain.

The Huashan A2000 chip's widespread acclaim and successful navigation through the stringent review process stem from its technological might. Built on an advanced 7-nanometer automotive-grade process, the chip seamlessly integrates high-performance CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and various specialized computing acceleration units.

Black Sesame Technologies asserts that its real-world performance rivals the current global top-tier intelligent driving chips, with some even contending that its 7-nanometer technology-driven performance can compete with the industry's 4-nanometer flagship offerings.

In terms of key artificial intelligence processing capabilities, the A2000 chip supports a range of precision computations, including FP16, FP8 floating-point formats, and INT4, INT8, and INT16, enabling efficient and flexible management of complex computing tasks in intelligent driving scenarios, from perception and decision-making to control.

Furthermore, Black Sesame Technologies' proprietary Jiushao NPU architecture significantly boosts hardware acceleration support for real-time inference of Transformer large models, catering to the demands of next-generation autonomous driving algorithms. The accompanying mature AI toolchain, BaRT, is designed to aid automakers and developers in achieving efficient full-process development, from model training to onboard deployment.

From a market positioning perspective, the Huashan A2000 is not a proprietary system. Black Sesame Technologies envisions it as a high-computing-power driving platform for an open ecosystem. This implies that automakers or third-party technology firms can independently devise and deploy their unique intelligent driving solutions based on this chip.

This open cooperation strategy resonates with the ecosystem partner philosophy espoused by company founder Johnny Shen, emphasizing "not competing with customers." It serves to attract more partners and collectively accelerate the mass production and widespread adoption of advanced intelligent driving technologies.

References:

https://www.caiwennews.com/article/1411540.shtml

https://www.iyiou.com/briefing/202601041864611

https://www.fortunechina.com/shangye/c/2025-05/14/content_465178.htm