Alibaba deepens AI push with new chip, bigger model; shares jump 5%
Alibaba said the chip triples the performance of its predecessor and will support frontier model training in clusters of up to 500,000 chips.
- On Tuesday at the Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu unveiled the Zhenwu V900 AI accelerator, calling it China's most powerful chip with triple the performance of its predecessor, the M890.
- U.S. export restrictions limiting access to advanced Nvidia processors prompted Alibaba to develop the V900, a strategic move to maintain domestic AI competitiveness through proprietary silicon integrated with cloud infrastructure.
- The V900 features 216 gigabytes of memory and supports clusters of up to 500,000 cards for frontier AI model training, with mass production and commercial release scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
- Alibaba Cloud plans to expand global data center capacity to more than 20 gigawatts by 2032; Citigroup analysts estimate this infrastructure could generate over $160 billion in external revenue.
- Training next-generation Qwen models targeting 5 trillion to 10 trillion parameters, the company aims to tackle more complex tasks and advance toward artificial superintelligence, Wu said.
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Alibaba to Expand Data Centers to Over 20GW by 2032 with New V900 AI Chip
Alibaba plans to expand its data centers beyond 20 gigawatts by 2032 while launching the V900, its most advanced AI processor yet. The chip supports massive 500,000-card clusters, aiming to rival Nvidia GPUs amid US export restrictions. This dual strategy underscores China's push for homegrown AI infrastructure at unprecedented scale.
Alibaba wants to expand data center capacity past 20 GW by 2032, says its new V900 AI chip can scale to 500,000-card clusters, but will 'China's most powerful AI chip' be enough to displace Nvidia GPUs?
Alibaba remains tight-lipped about the details as it aims to challenge Huawei and last-generation Nvidia chips in domestic markets.
Alibaba Unveils Powerful New AI Chip as China Ramps Up Competition With Nvidia – channelnews
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is stepping up its push into artificial intelligence with a new chip it describes as China’s most powerful AI accelerator yet, as the technology giant prepares for a major expansion of its data-centre infrastructure. The company on Tuesday unveiled the Zhenwu V900, an AI accelerator developed by Alibaba’s T-Head semiconductor division. Alibaba says the new chip delivers three times the performance of its predecessor and can be deployed in clusters containing as many as 500,000 processors to support the training of advanced AI models. The announcement highlights Alibaba’s growing ambitions to compete with Nvidia and become a major player across the AI hardware and software stack. Billions Going Into AI Alibaba has committed more than $53 billion over three years to expand its AI capabilities and infrastructure. The company also raised approximately $10.2 billion through a follow-on share offering in August. CEO Eddie Wu has made artificial general intelligence a central priority for Alibaba, with the company investing heavily in chips, cloud computing and increasingly capable AI models. Wu said Alibaba plans to develop AI models with between 5 trillion and 10 trillion parameters, far beyond the scale of many models currently available. The goal is to create systems capable of handling longer and increasingly complex tasks. The company also plans to dramatically expand its cloud infrastructure. Alibaba is targeting 20 gigawatts of global data-centre capacity by 2032 for Alibaba Cloud. Citigroup estimates that such an expansion could generate more than $160 billion in external revenue for Alibaba’s rapidly growing cloud business. China Pushes Ahead Despite US Restrictions Alibaba’s aggressive expansion comes as China’s AI industry faces significant restrictions on access to the world’s most advanced chips. US export controls have limited Chinese companies’ ability to obtain Nvidia’s most powerful AI processors and have also restricted access to manufacturing capacity at leading chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Alibaba showcased its own chips, cloud services and AI models at the event, but Wu did not provide details on whether the company has secured enough domestic semiconductor production to meet rapidly increasing demand. It remains unclear how closely Alibaba is working with Chinese manufacturers such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which is already facing capacity constraints.
Alibaba Unveils Zhenwu V900 AI Chip, Plans $53 Billion Infrastructure Push
Alibaba Group unveiled the Zhenwu V900, an artificial-intelligence accelerator the company describes as China’s most powerful, at its Apsara Conference, according to the company. The processor comes from Alibaba’s T-Head semiconductor division, and CEO Eddie Wu announced it during the event. Alibaba said mass production and commercial release are scheduled for the first quarter of […]
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