Skip to main content
See every side of every news story
Published • loading... • Updated

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.
Insights by Ground AI
Podcasts & Opinions

180 Articles

Center

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.

Think freely.Subscribe and get full access to Ground NewsSubscriptions start at $9.99/yearSubscribe

Bias Distribution

  • 43% of the sources are Center
43% Center

Factuality Info Icon

To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium

Ownership

Info Icon

To view ownership data please Upgrade to Vantage

se7en.ws broke the news on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
Too Big Arrow Icon
Sources are mostly out of (0)

Similar News Topics

News
Feed Dots Icon
For You
Search Icon
Search
Blindspot LogoBlindspotLocal