Alibaba announced that is establishing a chip company, a subsidiary under the Alibaba Group that will focus on customized AI chips and embedded processors to further support its growing cloud and Internet of Things businesses, as well as to provide products for different industries. At its Cloud Computing technology showcase, the Chinese company said it also expects to have its first AI chip called AliNPU ready by mid-2019. The chip could potentially be used for autonomous vehicles, smart cities and smart logistics, according to the company.
Alibaba Chief Technology Officer Jeff Zhang made the announcements in a speech on the company's R&D efforts. He said that over the next three to five years, Alibaba DAMO Academy will focus its efforts on developing quantum processors. The company wants to leverage its ability to develop chips as well as test them across its range of services.DAMO was established last year and has grown to over 300 researchers in eight cities around the world. Its focus has been on machine intelligence, robotics, fintech, data computing and quantum computing, developing a simulator that mimics quantum circuits. Its also done the work behind the new AI chip and will form the basis for the planned semiconductors subsidiary.
