China’s Technology Acceleration: Alibaba Expands AI Data Center Using Homegrown Chips

Alibaba and China Telecom have recently inaugurated a cutting-edge data center powered entirely by Alibaba’s in-house AI chips. The project, located in Guangdong, features a 10,000-chip AI infrastructure employing Zhenwu semiconductors, capable of supporting large-scale models. This initiative underscores China’s strategic push towards fostering a robust domestic computing ecosystem amidst escalating chip restrictions from the U.S. and the growing demand for enhanced computing capabilities. Alibaba’s innovative facility, now operational, boasts of 10,000 Zhenwu semiconductors, specifically engineered for AI training and inference tasks. These chips enable the system to process models with hundreds of billions of parameters, positioning it as one…