Alibaba’s New AI Chip: A Potential Challenger to Nvidia in China’s Market
Chinese e-commerce titan, Alibaba, has developed a new AI chip. This chip is designed to compete with Nvidia’s restricted products in China, according to multiple sources. The domestically manufactured chip is more versatile than Alibaba’s previous processors and is currently undergoing testing.
The introduction of this chip comes in the wake of US restrictions that limited Nvidia’s ability to sell advanced chips to China. This situation has created opportunities for local competitors. Unlike earlier Alibaba processors, which were produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, this new chip is being manufactured by a Chinese company to comply with export controls.
The chip is specifically designed for AI inference workloads. It also features compatibility with Nvidia’s programming platform. This compatibility allows software written for Nvidia chips to be easily adapted. Alibaba has committed to investing a whopping $53.1 billion in AI over the next three years. Its cloud division has reported a 26% year-over-year revenue growth, which is driven by AI-related products.
Source: CNBC