Alibaba Unveils New AI Chip To Power China's Open-Source Tech Push, Challenge US Chip Giants

On Monday, Alibaba Group Holding’s BABA XuanTie C930 processor injects fresh momentum into China’s semiconductor industry.

Analysts highlighted to the SCMP the processor’s potential to broaden domestic use of open-source chips built on the RISC-V instruction set architecture, countering U.S. semiconductor sanctions.

Alibaba’s Damo Academy showcased the C930 central processing unit (CPU) design in February.

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The C930 will begin shipping to clients in March.

Damo also announced plans for new XuanTie processors designed for AI acceleration, automotive applications, and high-speed interconnection.

Global RISC-V system-on-a-chip unit shipments could reach 16.2 billion by 2030, up from 1.3 billion in 2023, to reach a market size worth $92.7 billion, SHD Group told the SCMP.

Guotai Junan Securities analysts told the SCMP that RISC-V demonstrates significant potential in the AI era, just as DeepSeek has disrupted OpenAI’s monopoly with its open-source, low-cost, and high-performance advantages.

For context, China’s strategic pivot towards the open-source RISC-V architecture challenged Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD and Intel Corp’s INTC control on the x86 chip standard.

RISC-V’s design for cloud computing and smart cars indicates China’s intent to circumvent U.S. sanctions and reduce dependency on Western chip technologies.

Last week, Alibaba launched a new reasoning model comparable to DeepSeek’s R1.

Alibaba was among the first major global tech companies to open-source its large-scale AI models. Alibaba earmarked $53 billion for cloud and AI infrastructure over the next three years.

Benchmark’s Fawne Jiang hailed Alibaba as a leading player in China’s AI sector.

Price Action: BABA stock is down 5.26% at $133.23 at last check Monday.

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