Alibaba Just Unveiled One of China’s Most Advanced Chips
AnonTechie writes:
Alibaba Just Unveiled One of China's Most Advanced Chips:
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. unveiled a new server chip that's based on advanced 5-nanometer technology, marking a milestone in China's pursuit of semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The Chinese tech giant's newest chip is based on micro-architecture provided by the SoftBank Group Corp.-owned Arm Ltd., according to a statement Tuesday. Alibaba, which is holding its annual cloud summit in Hangzhou, said the silicon will be put to use in its own data centers in the near future" and will not be sold commercially, at least for now.
With the pandemic fueling increasing demand for cloud services, tech giants worldwide are increasingly seeking ever-more powerful and energy efficient semiconductors to gain an 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 like Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. with products custom-designed for their data centers and workloads.
[...] Known as Yitian 710, the Arm-based server chip is the third semiconductor introduced by the e-commerce giant since 2019, following an artificial intelligence chip as well as one used for internet-of-things.
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