The Tamesis
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday unveiled a new artificial intelligence chip it says is three times more powerful than its predecessor.
The move signals the technology group’s growing strength as a domestic chipmaker at a time when U.S. giant Nvidia struggles to sell its advanced semiconductors in China.
Semiconductors have been at the center of the fierce competition between the United States and China for supremacy in artificial intelligence, with Washington banning sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips in China over national security concerns.
See also: China expresses willingness to cooperate with US on AI governance
Beijing has responded by seeking to boost domestic production, enhance self-reliance and devote resources to boosting domestic industry, according to reports Ban companies from buying advanced Nvidia chips early this year.
Alibaba says its new chip, the Zhenwu M890, has three times the performance of its predecessor, the Zhenwu 810E, which is widely believed to be comparable in performance to the Nvidia H20.
The H20 is a less powerful version of Nvidia’s artificial intelligence processing unit, designed for export to China.
The higher-end H200 has been licensed by the United States for sale in China, but its entry into the Chinese market appears to have stalled.
Zhang Guobin, founder of Chinese professional website eetrend.com, said the timing of Alibaba’s launch was “extremely accurate.”
He told AFP: “At a time when H200 has entered the window period when the prospects for the Chinese market are highly uncertain, Nvidia’s business in China has actually dropped to zero.”
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang visited Beijing last week with U.S. President Donald Trump.
He said he was not discussing the H200 directly, but added that “the Chinese government has to decide… how much of the local market they want to protect”.
Zhenwu M890
Zhang of eetrend.com said the new Zhenwu M890 chip “provides a reliable option that is not affected by export control fluctuations, allowing domestic AI companies to develop long-term technology roadmaps”.
“At least…(it) proves that China now has a ‘Plan B’ that does not rely on Nvidia in the field of high-end artificial intelligence computing power,” he added.
However, when it comes to performance, Nvidia still holds the lead.
Even the H200 is significantly less advanced than the company’s top chips, the Blackwell series and upcoming Rubin processors.
Alibaba said that so far, more than 560,000 Zhenwu series chips have been shipped to more than 400 customers, including automakers and financial institutions.
The Hangzhou-based tech giant operates some of China’s largest e-commerce platforms but has accelerated its transition to artificial intelligence in recent years.
Its open source Qwen AI model series is popular among developers, with more than 1 billion downloads since its initial launch in 2023.
- Further editing by Jim Pollard, AFP.
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