Aug 27 (Reuters) - China's chipmakers are seeking to

triple the country's output of artificial intelligence chips in

2026, rushing to reduce dependence on Nvidia ( NVDA ), the

Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Huawei aims to begin production at a plant

dedicated to making AI chips by year end, with two more

facilities set to launch in 2026, the newspaper said citing

people familiar with the matter.

The plants are designed to specifically support Huawei, but

their ownership remains unclear. Huawei told the FT that it did

not have plans for its own plants.

The combined output from the three potential plants could

surpass the current production capacity of similar lines at

China's top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International

Corporation (SMIC), the FT said.

SMIC plans to next year double manufacturing capacity for 7

nanometre chips, for which Huawei is its largest customer, the

report said.

Huawei and SMIC did not immediately respond to Reuters

requests for comment.

Beijing is accelerating work on domestic AI chips, with

companies developing processors that rival the performance of

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) China-special H20, about which the government has

expressed security concerns.

Reuters reported in November that Huawei planned to start

mass-producing its most advanced AI chip in the first quarter of

2025 despite grappling with the impact of U.S. restrictions.