Alibaba is designing its own AI inference chip

Earlier this year, Chinese web giant Alibaba bought a chip firm and now the company is expanding its chip efforts by setting up a dedicated chip subsidiary. By the second half of 2019, Alibaba aims to have its own AI inference chip for tasks and projects like autonomous driving, smart cities, and logistics. One of the goals here is to reduce dependence on US-based technology.

Jack Ma, Alibaba co-founder and chairman, said then that China needed to control its “core technology” like chips to avoid over-reliance on U.S. imports, something which has been put in the spotlight by whipsawing trade tensions.

Via: Reuters