Alibaba doubles down on RISC-V architecture with a new secretive 'server-grade' chip that will put AMD and Intel on alert

• Alibaba's DAMO Academy has launched its first server-grade RISC-V processor
• The C930 is designed for high-performance computing, rivaling Intel and AMD's offerings
• RISC-V's open-source design avoids licensing fees and geopolitical restrictions

Alibaba has launched its first server-grade RISC-V processor, the C930, designed for high-performance computing and positioned as an alternative to Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC CPUs.

The new chip, developed by Alibaba’s research arm DAMO Academy (short for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook), was announced at a conference in Beijing and is the latest addition to Alibaba’s XuanTie RISC-V processor series, which includes the C910 launched in 2019 and the C920 released in 2023.

In response to the ever-tightening US trade restrictions on advanced technology exports, Chinese firms such as Alibaba’s DAMO Academy, Huawei, and Tencent have been ramping up efforts to develop their own chips to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers. RISC-V in particular is gaining traction in China due to its open source nature, which allows companies to design and customize processors without the licensing fees or geopolitical risks associated with proprietary architectures like x86 and Arm. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is set to introduce its own RISC-V-based XiangShan CPU this year.

An aggressive investment

At the Beijing conference, DAMO Academy also outlined future plans for the XuanTie processor series, which includes the development of new chips for use in AI accelerators, automotive computing, and high-speed interconnection.

A report from the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, states, “The launch of the new chips came days after the tech giant announced an aggressive investment plan of at least 380 billion yuan (US$52 billion) in AI and cloud infrastructure over the next three years. The company, which is China’s largest cloud provider, aims to meet surging demand for AI models fuelled by the recent popularity of the high-performance, low-cost models developed by Hangzhou-based start-up DeepSeek.”

The reports adds the planned outlay exceeds Alibaba’s total spending on AI infrastructure over the past decade and will lead to the construction of more data centers across China.

The new C930 server processor is expected to begin shipping to clients later in March 2025.

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