- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. unveiled a new server chip that is based on advanced 5 nanometer technology, marking a milestone in China s pursuit of semiconductor self-sufficiency. The latest chip in the Chinese tech giant based on micro-architecture provided by the SoftBank Group Corp. - owned Arm Ltd. says a statement Tuesday. Alibaba, which holds its annual cloud summit in Hangzhou, said the silicon would be sold in the near future by Alibaba in its own data center and will not be put to use commercially, at least for now.
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Customizing our own server chips is consistent with our ongoing efforts to bolster our computing capabilities with better performance and improved energy efficiency, said Jeff Zhang, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and head of Alibaba Research Arm Damo Academy. Ultimately, Alibaba wants to support future and current businesses across the ecosystem of Alibaba Group. With the pandemic fueling increase in demand for cloud services, technology giants are increasingly seeking more powerful and energy efficient semiconductors to gain edge. Alibaba s server chip is one of the most advanced by a Chinese firm yet, as it joins global rivals like Amazon.com Inc. and Google in gradually replacing silicon from traditional chipmakers Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. with products custom-designed for their data centres and workloads.
Why cloud companies are designing their own chipsThe development signals how China s efforts to build a homegrown semiconductor industry is bearing fruit. Xi Jinping has made the local startup self-sufficiency a top national priority, setting aside billions in government funding and offering a wide range of policy support to help local companies overcome U.S. sanctions on the industry.
Alibaba is one of a number of Chinese companies that answered Beijing's request to invest in the development of cutting-edge technologies and manufacturing capacities. Since 2019, the Arm-based server chip is the third semiconductor introduced by the e-commerce giant, where he follows an artificial intelligence chip and the one that is used for ioT things.
But with limited domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, Alibaba will likely still have to outsource production. Even though the company didn t disclose its manufacturing partner, Samsung Electronics Co. and South Korea's Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are only two companies capable of mass-producing 5 nm chips.
Each nanometer, equal to one billionth of a meter, measures the size of transistors within a chip. By making them smaller, manufacturers can cram in more of them to make semiconductors smaller and more powerful. Apple Inc. is among other companies using the leading technology for the chips that power its iPhones and Macs.
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