Alibaba has developed a new, more versatile AI chip intended to handle a broader range of inference tasks. The chip is currently in testing and is manufactured by a Chinese company, unlike an earlier Alibaba AI processor fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. Chinese tech and AI companies have emphasized homegrown technology as Nvidia faced regulatory limits on selling processors in China. Nvidia's H20 — the most powerful AI processor allowed for sale in China — was effectively blocked earlier but was recently permitted for resale; it offers less computing power than Nvidia's H100 and Blackwell series. Alibaba remains China's largest cloud-computing firm and reported a 26% increase in cloud revenue for April–June.
China's Alibaba has developed a new chip that is more versatile than its older chips and is meant to serve a broader range of AI inference tasks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The chip, now in testing, is manufactured by a Chinese company, in contrast to an earlier Alibaba AI processor that was fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the report said.
Chinese tech and AI companies have been focusing heavily on homegrown technology at a time when leading AI chip giant Nvidia has faced regulatory issues in selling its products in the country. Nvidia's H20 chip, the most powerful AI processor it is allowed to sell in China, was effectively blocked from sale in the market earlier this year by the Trump administration.
Collection
[
|
...
]