MOSCOW, May 20 (Reuters) - Russia hopes to power its flagship GigaChat AI model with Chinese-made chips, Sberbank's CEO said during President Vladimir Putin's visit to China, as Western sanctions continue to block the country's access to advanced hardware abroad.

"We are hoping that we will be able to use Chinese microchips for GigaChat," Chief Executive German Gref told state broadcaster Channel One.

GigaChat was developed by Sberbank, the country's largest lender, which has been driving Russia's push into AI.

The bank's efforts to buy advanced chips from China face stiff competition as China's biggest internet firms, including ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba, are also rushing to order Huawei's Ascend 950 AI chips.

Ascend 950, the most advanced Chinese chip, still trails U.S.-based Nvidia's H200 model. Gref did not say which chips Sberbank was trying to buy.

Russia trails AI leaders, the United States and China, in development of the technology and depends heavily on imported electronics in sensitive sectors, including defence. China is its main supplier of such hardware.

(Writing by Gleb BryanskiEditing by Bernadette Baum)