At its annual Apsara conference, Alibaba unveiled its new AI chip, specializing in machine learning task management, which will be used to enhance the services of its cloud computing division.
The Hanguang 800 is the first artificial intelligence chip developed by the internet giant. It is already used within the company to provide a variety of services, including product search, machine translation, and personalized recommendations on its websites.
Alibaba CTO Jeff Zhang explained the importance of the chip in the company's current and future projects, stating:
"The launch of Hanguang 800 is a milestone in our pursuit of next-generation technologies, strengthening IT capabilities that will power our current and emerging businesses while improving energy efficiency."
Hangzhou 800
At the moment, it appears that the Hanguang 800 will remain in-house, as Alibaba does not plan to sell the chip as a separate commercial product, according to a company spokesperson.
The chip itself was developed by an Alibaba research institute, launched in late 2017, called DAMO Academy, in conjunction with the company's specialty semiconductor division, T-Head.
Alibaba's entry into the chip business comes at a time when Beijing is trying to promote China's semiconductor industry while reducing the country's dependence on tech-based technologies. imported by foreign companies.
US tech giants Google and Facebook are also developing their own custom chips to improve the performance of specialized artificial intelligence tasks in their data centers.
Via Reuters