According to Economy Daily Newsquote Wall Street JournalSources say Alibaba has introduced a new AI chip that is more versatile than its predecessor, with the aim of filling the gap left after Nvidia faced regulatory hurdles in sales to China. The chips currently under test are reportedly produced by Chinese manufacturers rather than TSMC, the report adds. As the report highlights, Alibaba is expanding its AI capacity, leading server supplier Taiwan's Inventec is expected to make a profit.
Economic Daily News highlights that Inventec has the closest relationship with Alibaba. Institutional investors expect Alibaba will accelerate the deployment of AI servers and place more manufacturing orders when it deploys its own-developed AI chips.
Inventec is deeply involved in China's cloud market, supplying AI servers to the country's four major cloud service giants, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and bytedance, as noted in the daily economic news. Shipping to CSP customers in China is primarily in the form of L10 (rack assembly and testing) and L11 (server integration and rack deployment), as reported points out.
As the Economy Daily News highlights, Inventec's first half shipments were primarily high-priced racks (L10), but the motherboards (L6) dominated the second half. Shifts in the product mix are expected to lift the total margin. The second half shipments are expected to surpass the first, with double-digit growth expected.
This optimism is supported by Alibaba's cloud performance, and the company recently reported first-quarter cloud revenues to RMB33.4 billion, up 26% year-on-year, exceeding 18% in the previous quarter. The company also said its AI-related product revenues have maintained its triple-digit annual growth for the eighth quarter in a row, according to Economic Daily News.
Beyond Alibaba: China's AI chip maker accelerates growth
China is stepping up its efforts to advance its domestic chip industry. In July, it unveiled a new processor that will be positioned as an alternative to the H20, beyond Shanghai-based Metax. The chips sacrifice higher power consumption, but have more memory than the H20. As the Wall Street Journal points out, Metax said it is currently preparing mass-produced chips. Another potential Nvidia Challenger, Beijing-based AI chip designer Cambricon Technologies, reported revenue of $247 million against the backdrop of solid demand for the Siyuan 590 AI chip, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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(Photo credit: Alibaba)
Please note that this article quotes information. From the Wall Street Journal and Economy Daily News.
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