Alibaba Develops AI Inference Chip Amid China's Push for Semiconductor Independence

Alibaba looks to end reliance on Nvidia for AI inference

Chinese cloud provider reportedly joins the homegrown silicon party Alibaba has reportedly developed an AI accelerator amid growing pressure from Beijing to curb the nation's reliance on Nvidia GPUs. First reported by the Wall Street Journal Friday, the ecommerce giant's latest chip is aimed specifically at AI inference, which refers to serving models as opposed to training them. Alibaba's T-Heat division has been working on AI silicon for some time now. In 2019, it introduced the Hanguang 800. However, unlike modern chips from Nvidia and AMD, the part was primarily aimed at conventional machine learning models like ResNet -- not the large language and diffusion models that power AI chatbots and image generators today. The new chip, it's reported, will be able to handle a more diverse set of workloads. Alibaba has become one of the leading developers of open models with its Qwen3 family launched in April. As such, its initial focus on inference isn't surprising. Serving models generally requires fewer resources than training them, making it a good place to start its transition to homegrown hardware. Alibaba is likely to continue using Nvidia accelerators for model training for the foreseeable future. The Journal also reports that, unlike Huawei's Ascend line of NPUs, Alibaba's chip will be compatible with Nvidia's software platform, allowing engineers to repurpose existing code. While that might sound like CUDA -- Nvidia's low-level programming language for GPUs -- this is unlikely and isn't necessary for inference. More likely, Alibaba is targeting higher-level abstraction layers like PyTorch or TensorFlow, which, for the most part, provide a hardware-agnostic programming interface. We say largely, because there is still plenty of PyTorch code that makes use of libraries built exclusively for Nvidia hardware, though projects like Triton have addressed many of these edge cases. In any case, the chip will need to be built domestically due to US export controls on semiconductor tech which prevent many Chinese companies from doing business with TSMC or Samsung Electronics. The report doesn't say which company will be tasked with fabbing the chip, but if we had to guess, it would be China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. (SMIC). SMIC also happens to be the fab responsible for pumping out Huawei's Ascend family of NPUs. Manufacturing isn't the only challenge facing China's domestic chip efforts. AI accelerators rely on large quantities of fast memory. Typically, this means high bandwidth memory (HBM), which, thanks to the US China trade war, is also restricted. HBM2e and newer can't be sold in China unless it's already attached to a processor. That means Alibaba's chips will either rely on slower GDDR or LPDDR memory, existing stockpiles of HBM3 and HBM2e, or older HBM2, which isn't restricted, until Chinese memory vendors are ready to fill the void. News of the homegrown silicon comes as the Chinese government pressures tech titans in the region not to use Nvidia's H20 accelerators while also stoking fears of backdoors and remote kill switches. Nvidia, which was recently cleared to resume shipments of H20s to China, has denied the existence of any such features. As we reported earlier this week, while Nvidia has the green light to resume shipments of the chip, the company doesn't expect to realize revenues in the region this quarter while it waits for Uncle Sam to find his way through the maze of red tape required to implement a 15 percent export tax on AI chips bound for China. Nvidia's imminent return to the Middle Kingdom hasn't stopped many of China's AI flag bearers from looking for alternatives. Earlier this month, DeepSeek retuned its market-rattling models to run on a new generation of domestic silicon. DeepSeek didn't identify the supplier of the chips, but the company has reportedly failed to transition model training to Huawei's Ascend accelerators. Alibaba and Huawei aren't the only ones working to end China's reliance on Western silicon. Last month, EE Times China reported that Tencent-backed startup Enflame was developing a new AI chip called the L600 which would feature 144GB of on-chip memory capable of 3.6Tb/s of bandwidth. MetaX, meanwhile, has unveiled its C600 which will feature 144GB of HBM3e. However, it appears chip production may be limited by existing stockpiles of HBM3e. Finally, Cambricon, another AI chip hopeful seen by some as China's Nvidia, is also working on a home grown accelerator called the Siyuan 690 which is widely expected to outperform Nvidia's now three year old H100 accelerators. The Register reached out to Alibaba for comment; we'll let you know if we hear anything back. ®

China Gets Closer to Finding Its Own Nvidia

A new China-buys-China narrative is taking shape as Beijing steps up its tech rivalry with the US. The world's second-largest economy not only wants to build generative AI models, but power them with its own hardware, redrawing a supply chain dominated by Nvidia Corp. There certainly is an opening after Nvidia reportedly halted production related to its H20 AI chip tailor-made for the Chinese market. Beijing had told tech companies to stop buying them due to national security concerns. Last week, DeepSeek released an upgrade to its flagship V3 model to accommodate the next generation of homegrown chips.

China seeks to triple output of AI chips in boost to DeepSeek ambitions

China's chipmakers are seeking to triple the country's total output of artificial intelligence processors next year, as domestic groups such as DeepSeek push for the semiconductors needed to match western rivals in developing the most advanced AI. One fabrication plant dedicated to producing Huawei's AI processors is scheduled to start production as soon as the end of this year, while two more are due to launch next year, said two people with knowledge of the plans. While the new plants are designed to specifically support Huawei, it is not clear who exactly owns them. Huawei denied having plans to launch its own fabs and did not provide further details. Combined capacity from these three new plants, once fully ramped up, could exceed the current total output of similar lines at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's leading fab, according to those people with knowledge of the effort. The people added that SMIC also planned to double its capacity next year for making chips at 7 nanometres -- the most advanced mass produced in China. Huawei is SMIC's largest customer at present for such processor lines. As a result, smaller Chinese chip designers such as Cambricon, MetaX and Biren will be able to get much larger allocations of SMIC's capacity, spurring competition for a fast-growing China market left by Nvidia following US export bans. Semiconductors are at the heart of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. The US has restricted access to the top AI processors made by global leader Nvidia, in an effort to restrain Chinese efforts to develop AI. "Domestic output won't be an issue for long, especially with all the capacity coming online next year," said one Chinese chipmaker executive. Chinese companies are also racing to develop the next generation of AI chips adaptable to a standard advocated for by DeepSeek, which has emerged as the country's leading AI start-up. DeepSeek announced last week that its models were now using a type of FP8 data format, designed to adapt to the next generation of domestic chips, without specifying from which supplier. Share prices of listed Chinese semiconductor companies such as Cambricon and SMIC surged following the announcement. Huawei's 910D as well as Cambricon's 690 are seen as leading products tailored to support Deepseek's preferred standards, while multiple smaller Chinese chipmakers are also accelerating the development of their versions. DeepSeek chose this data format because it increases the efficiency of hardware, at the cost of precision, which could create a way to help Chinese AI players compete with international rivals even if their chips are generations behind Nvidia's leading offerings. "If we succeed in developing and optimising these Chinese chips to train and run Chinese models in a continuously evolving Chinese ecosystem, one day we will look back at this shift as an even more significant DeepSeek moment," said the chipmaker's executive. "This unprecedented alignment could make up for our less advanced hardware capability." However, such an effort would require a years-long collaboration between makers of computing chips with those making hardware for memory and connectivity, as well as software tools required to support them. China is making pushes in other critical areas as well, such as memory chips, at present dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron -- all subject to US export controls. Leading Chinese player CXMT is testing samples of "HBM3" high bandwidth memory products with a target to launch next year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The product is only one generation behind the most advanced memory products used by Nvidia's chips. While DeepSeek has done early work on Chinese chips in small samples, to prove that it is technically viable, the group's current model training is done on Nvidia chip clusters, the Financial Times has reported. This could change once more Chinese domestic chips become adaptable to its standard and improve their performance. "Necessity begets innovation," said an investor in multiple Chinese semiconductor and large language model start-ups. "Companies in Silicon Valley won't even bother to do what DeepSeek is doing because they can get as many advanced Nvidia chips as they want." Beijing is putting significant political and financial support behind such pushes. The State Council called this week for greater AI adoption in the country, as well as "integrated and co-ordinated development of AI-driven technology research and development, engineering implementation, and product commercialisation". Cambricon, listed in Shanghai, received approval to raise about $600mn this year. Four smaller AI chipmakers, including Biren and MetaX, are seeking to go public as soon as the end of this year, having raised about $3bn combined in pre-IPO rounds. If successful, the push to create alignment between China's AI hardware and software companies could meet DeepSeek's founder Liang Wenfeng's call to challenge Nvidia's global lead. "Nvidia's lead is not created by a single company, but a collaborative effort by the whole western community and industry," Liang told Chinese media last year. "China's AI development needs the same ecosystem. China needs someone to stand at the forefront of such development." SMIC, Cambricon, DeepSeek, CXMT, Biren and MetaX did not respond to the FT's request for comment.

China aims to triple AI chip output, reducing Nvidia's dependency, FT says

Aug 27 (Reuters) - China's chipmakers are seeking to triple the country's output of artificial intelligence chips in 2026, rushing to reduce dependence on Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Huawei (HWT.UL) aims to begin production at a plant dedicated to making AI chips by year end, with two more facilities set to launch in 2026, the newspaper said citing people familiar with the matter. The plants are designed to specifically support Huawei, but their ownership remains unclear. Huawei told the FT that it did not have plans for its own plants. The combined output from the three potential plants could surpass the current production capacity of similar lines at China's top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the FT said. SMIC plans to next year double manufacturing capacity for 7 nanometre chips, for which Huawei is its largest customer, the report said. Huawei and SMIC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Beijing is accelerating work on domestic AI chips, with companies developing processors that rival the performance of Nvidia's China-special H20, about which the government has expressed security concerns. Reuters reported in November that Huawei planned to start mass-producing its most advanced AI chip in the first quarter of 2025 despite grappling with the impact of U.S. restrictions. Reporting by Dheeraj Kumar and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Alibaba is developing a new AI chip -- here's what we know so far

Chinese technology firms have focused on developing homegrown chips over the last few years amid rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Alibaba is developing a new chip designed for artificial intelligence applications, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC, as Chinese tech firms look to ramp up development of homegrown semiconductors. Alibaba's semiconductor is designed for inferencing, which is the actual running of AI applications, rather than training which is when huge amounts of data is used to develop a large model, said one source, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the matter. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the chip, which has not officially been launched. Chinese technology firms have focused on developing homegrown chips over the last few years as rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China has threatened to cut off access to American technology for firms in the world's second-largest economy. The latest example is U.S. firm Nvidia , which earlier this year was blocked from selling its H20 product to China. The H20 is a system that has reduced performance and was designed specifically to comply with export curbs to China. Nvidia has since been given the green light to resume shipments to China as long as the firm pays 15% of that revenue to the U.S. government . Still, Nvidia said on its earnings call this week that it has not shipped any of the H20 chips to China yet. Alibaba will continue to use its own chips as well as those from other vendors like Nvidia, one of the sources told CNBC. Nvidia's chips are capable of both training and inferencing. Nvidia shares extended their recent losses, falling over 3% in early trade in the U.S. Meanwhile, Alibaba shares were up 12% on the chip news as well as its strong earnings posted on Friday. Unlike Nvidia, Alibaba will not sell its chip to external customers. Instead, customers will rent computing power from Alibaba that is partly based on these new chips. AI boost The Hanghzou-headquartered company has a semiconductor design unit known as T-head. The last inference chip it released was the Hanguang 800 in 2019 . These chips go into servers in data centers to process AI workloads. Alibaba has signaled plans to invest heavily in AI infrastructure. This year, the company said it would invest at least 380 billion Chinese yuan ($53.1 billion) next three years. Already, Alibaba is seeing the benefits. On Friday, the company said its cloud division saw revenue jump 26% year-on-year , as quarterly growth continues to accelerate. AI-related product revenue "maintained triple-digit year-over-year growth for the eighth consecutive quarter," the company said. Some of Alibaba's rivals including Baidu are also developing their own semiconductors. While these companies still use Nvidia chips where they can, they are also using alternatives from Chinese firms like Huawei , which has emerged as a key player in China's AI semiconductor space. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been lobbying the U.S. government to allow American chip firms to sell to China or risk Chinese firms filling the void . Cambricon, one of the country's AI chip designers, this week reported a 4,000% surge in revenue and posted a record profit in the first half of the year.

What we know about Alibaba's potential new AI chip

The potential new chip could have global implications as the AI arms race makes pace. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is developing a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI), according to several media reports. The move comes after the United States banned Nvidia from selling its most powerful chips, the Blackwell chip, to China in April, arguing it was necessary to safeguard US national and economic security as the AI global race gains pace. The US appeared to reverse course last month after Nvidia agreed to pay the government 15 per cent of what it earns from chip sales to China. While selling the Blackwell chip to China is still up in the air, Nvidia did get the clearance to export its watered-down H20 chip to China. Even so, in August China reportedly told its local tech companies to stop buying American company Nvidia's chips, citing security concerns. Here is everything we know so far about Alibaba's AI chip offering. The company is not new to chips, and its last one, the Hanguang 800, was released in 2019. Alibaba also has its own semiconductor design unit, called T-head. The company said this year it would invest at least 380 billion Chinese yuan (€45 billion) in AI over the next three years. However, US company Nvidia is the world's leading AI chip supplier and has the most powerful semiconductors, which it has spent years developing. It will take a while for other companies to catch up with newer offerings. Chinese firm Huawei also has its own AI chip; meanwhile, Cambricon is also being hyped as China's next AI champion. Chinese firms such as Alibaba and ByteDance have previously said their AI development would be hindered without Nvidia's chips. For the moment, Alibaba will continue to use its own chips as well as those from companies including Nvidia, a source told CNBC. The publication also reported that Alibaba's chip will not be sold to external customers and will instead allow customers to rent "computing power from Alibaba that is partly based on these new chips". 'Cold War mentality' For the moment, there are a lot more unknowns about this new chip. But the reports come as Chinese President Xi Jinping called for AI cooperation, rejecting a "Cold War mentality" over the technology, CNBC reported him as saying on Monday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last week that his company is discussing a potential new computer chip designed for China with the Trump administration. "I'm offering a new product to China for ... AI data centres, the follow-on to H20," Huang said in Taiwan. But he added that "that's not our decision to make. It's up to, of course, the United States government. And we're in dialogue with them, but it's too soon to know". Huang has also warned the US government that Chinese companies could fill the AI chip void if Nvidia cannot sell to China. Experts have also previously warned to Euronews Next that the framing of the geopolitical AI race is wrong and it should be called a "suicide race," especially when it comes to artificial general intelligence (AGI). The term has many definitions, but it commonly refers to the idea that AI can replace human workers and also develop and build AGI machines themselves.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba aims to fill Nvidia void with its new AI chip

China's Alibaba has developed a new chip that is more versatile than its older chips and is meant to serve a broader range of AI inference tasks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The chip, now in testing, is manufactured by a Chinese company, in contrast to an earlier Alibaba AI processor that was fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the report said. Alibaba did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Chinese tech and AI companies have been focusing heavily on homegrown technology at a time when leading AI chip giant Nvidia has faced regulatory issues in selling its products in the country.

Alibaba Is Firing Back as the US-China AI War Heats Up

Alibaba's ambitions and emerging AI challengers in Shanghai and Beijing show that China won't roll over in the battle for AI dominance. Recent moves out of the country's tech sector illustrate the country's ambitions to remain a contender in the race for AI dominance at a time when Nvidia (NVDA), its CEO Huang, and others hope to thwart its advance and battle for a big share of a multibillion-dollar Chinese market for AI technology. The latest development: Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba Group Holdings' (BABA) cloud-computing unit is said to have developed a new chip more advanced than its legacy products, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. Other AI challengers are emerging from Shanghai to Beijing. Alibaba did not respond to Investopedia's request for comment on the report in time for publication. But investors took note: Its stock, aided by its latest quarterly results, was more than 10% in recent trading Friday. Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell nearly 3%, with Marvell Technology's (MRVL) double-digit decline dragging on the overall index. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) were also down as of Friday afternoon. Though the U.S. has blocked China from accessing critical AI tools on national-security grounds and boosted domestic companies, Chinese companies are finding workarounds. China appears intent on eschewing U.S.-made products for its own; Nvidia reportedly suspended production of its H20 chips after Beijing asked local firms to avoid using them due to security concerns. Jack Ma-founded Alibaba could be a formidable challenger if its AI business grows up to be anything like its online retail business, which in its latest fiscal year generated roughly $81 billion in revenue. CEO Eddie Wu said the firm "has ambitions beyond competing in a single category" and will invest to drive growth in its cloud and AI infrastructure businesses, during its quarterly earnings call, per a transcript made available by AlphaSense. Alibaba had previously announced plans to spend 380 billion renminbi, or over $50 billion, to drive growth in those businesses over the next three years. The company has also rolled out an AI model it said could outperform models from fellow Chinese challenger DeepSeek, OpenAI, and Meta Platforms (META). Cloud revenue grew 26% in the June-ended quarter. "Alibaba Group has two historic opportunities to build a technology platform centered on AI plus cloud and to create a comprehensive shopping and daily life services consumption platform," Wu said Friday.

China Doesn't Need Nvidia: Alibaba's Chip Challenges Washington - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA BABAF has just raised the stakes in the U.S.-China tech rivalry. The Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant has unveiled a new AI chip designed to reduce reliance on Nvidia, Washington's favorite export-turned-bargaining chip. Once one of NVIDIA Corp's NVDA biggest customers, Alibaba is now rolling out silicon of its own to keep China's artificial intelligence engines humming, a move that highlights Beijing's determination to counter U.S. restrictions with homegrown technology. Track BABA stock here. Read Also: Nvidia Is Now Worth Twice Tesla, AMD, Palantir, And Intel Combined Beijing's AI Arsenal Gets A New Flag-Bearer Alibaba's new processor, still in testing, is engineered for AI inference -- the stage where trained models generate outputs like chat responses or image recognition, reported Wall Street Journal. Unlike its earlier chips built for narrow tasks, the new design is versatile and, crucially, compatible with Nvidia's software ecosystem. That means Chinese engineers can port existing programs without rewriting them from scratch. The chip's debut comes as U.S. export rules bite: Nvidia's H20, the most powerful AI processor Washington still allows into China, has been hamstrung by political whiplash. President Donald Trump permitted shipments in July, but Beijing swiftly discouraged purchases over "security risks." Enter Alibaba, MetaX, Cambricon and Huawei -- Chinese companies racing to fill the gap. MetaX's upcoming chip boasts larger memory than the H20, Cambricon just posted a blockbuster $247 million quarter and Huawei is pushing monster clusters of 384 Ascend chips, claiming performance that on some metrics rivals Nvidia's Blackwell. Cloud + AI: Alibaba's $53 Billion Bet Alibaba's chip push isn't just about politics -- it's about money. Cloud computing, its second growth engine alongside e-commerce, saw revenue jump 26% in the April-June quarter thanks to surging AI demand. To seize the moment, CEO Eddie Wu has pledged at least $53 billion in cloud and AI investment over the next three years. The chip also reflects a deeper bottleneck: China can't yet mass-produce cutting-edge semiconductors due to U.S. tech bans. Instead, firms like MetaX are improvising -- stitching two smaller chips together to mimic advanced performance. Beijing, meanwhile, is pouring billions into AI self-sufficiency, signaling that Washington's chokehold may not last forever. Read Next: Nvidia's AI Fortress Shows 'First Crack' -- The China Risk Just Got Real Photo: Shutterstock BABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$132.2810.6%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum76.29Growth97.36Quality38.03Value84.98Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewBABAFAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$16.204.96%NVDANVIDIA Corp$174.33-3.24% This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

China Is Expected to Significantly Increase AI Chip Production in the Coming Years as Beijing Aims for '100% Self-Sufficiency' By 2027

China has reportedly expanded its pursuit of developing AI technology on home soil, as the nation is expected to increase AI chip production by threefold in just a few years. When you look at the recent geopolitical situation, it is clear that Beijing is pivoting away from Western AI hardware solutions, and while this move will take several years, China is preparing ahead of time. According to a new report by The Financial Times, it is claimed that the nation intends to increase its AI chip production by up to 3x within the next few years, and this move will benefit the likes of Huawei, DeepSeek, and Cambricon, which are the most capable domestic AI firms for now. It is claimed that a dedicated fab for Huawei's AI chips is expected to come online by year-end, with two more facilities in the pipeline as well, which are slated for production by next year. The combined capacity from these plants is claimed to rival SMIC's production figures, which shows that domestic AI firms are indeed scaling up the Chinese semiconductor industry. More importantly, SMIC themselves are looking to double 7nm production by 2026, which shows that the demand for homegrown nodes is higher than ever with the AI frenzy. China's AI chip solutions are much better positioned to rival NVIDIA than they were a few years ago, with options such as Huawei's Ascend 910D and Cambricon's 690 leading the race. Interestingly, DeepSeek revealed a few days ago that they were switching up AI models to be tailored to the FP8 format, which no Chinese AI chip offers as of right now. However, there are signs that a solution has been developed, most likely by Cambricon, judging by its recent stock price soar. Reducing reliance on foreign hardware has become a national priority, which is why a report from Ctee claims that the People's Government of Beijing Municipality is seeking 100% self-reliance in AI compute. For now, China is way behind the likes of NVIDIA, but the region is seeing breakthroughs in multiple segments, such as chip processes, high-bandwidth memory, and packaging technologies. This indicates that a robust ecosystem is in the process of being developed that would help Chinese AI firms come up with capable solutions.

Alibaba Reportedly Develops New AI Chip To Counter NVIDIA's Uncertainty as Beijing Pushes Harder for Independence in AI Tech

Chinese AI firms are giving their all to come up with in-house solutions, as a new report claims that the tech giant Alibaba has developed a new AI chip to replace NVIDIA's hardware. Beijing has made it a priority to pivot away from America's AI tech stack, which is why the administration has been somewhat 'convincing' local tech giants to shift towards domestic solutions. Firms like Huawei, Cambricon, MetaX, and many others are increasing their investments in developing in-house chips, and now, according to a report by WSJ, Alibaba has developed its own AI chip, which is claimed to fill the 'NVIDIA void', and more importantly, relies completely on domestic technologies. There is an essential element around China's push for local AI chips, and it is that the nation is far away from competing with the likes of NVIDIA right now. Not only are Chinese manufacturers barred from high-end semiconductors, but when it comes to the software stack as well, Team Green is the go-to option. However, one way that Beijing is currently focused on is by increasing 'inferencing capabilities' on domestic AI chips, which is why the Ascend chips from Huawei are claimed to be ideal for inferencing workloads, but for model training, they are no match. Alibaba's AI chip is claimed to have been developed by a Chinese company, likely SMIC, and it is currently being tested on inferencing workloads. Given that SMIC currently has 7nm production lines up and running, it is likely that Alibaba has utilized the process node with its AI chip, which puts it on par with solutions from Huawei and Cambricon. Apart from all the optimism, China still faces a massive capacity issue, since its fabs cannot support high-volume production, mainly due to old equipment, such as DUV lithography, and inefficient techniques. China still needs NVIDIA's AI chips for model training, and no options can replace the American tech stack when it comes to creating capable LLMs. More importantly, NVIDIA's CEO is pushing towards a 'Blackwell-based' product for China as well, showing that there's a dire need for NVIDIA to come up with a more capable solution for the region to stay relevant.

China's Alibaba develops new AI chip to help fill Nvidia void, WSJ reports

NVIDIA Corporation is the world leader in the design, development, and marketing of programmable graphics processors. The group also develops associated software. Net sales break down by family of products as follows: - computing and networking solutions (77.8%): data center platforms and infrastructure, Ethernet interconnect solutions, high-performance computing solutions, platforms and solutions for autonomous and intelligent vehicles, solutions for enterprise artificial intelligence infrastructure, crypto-currency mining processors, embedded computer boards for robotics, teaching, learning and artificial intelligence development, etc.; - graphics processors (22.2%): for PCs, game consoles, video game streaming platforms, workstations, etc. (GeForce, NVIDIA RTX, Quadro brands, etc.). The group also offers laptops, desktops, gaming computers, computer peripherals (monitors, mice, joysticks, remote controls, etc.), software for visual and virtual computing, platforms for automotive infotainment systems and cloud collaboration platforms. Net sales break down by industry between data storage (78%), gaming (17.1%), professional visualization (2.5%), automotive (1.8%) and other (0.6%). Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the United States (44.3%), Taiwan (22%), China (16.9%) and other (16.8%).

China aims to triple AI chip output, reducing Nvidia's dependency, FT says

(Reuters) -China's chipmakers are seeking to triple the country's output of artificial intelligence chips in 2026, rushing to reduce dependence on Nvidia, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Huawei aims to begin production at a plant dedicated to making AI chips by year end, with two more facilities set to launch in 2026, the newspaper said citing people familiar with the matter. The plants are designed to specifically support Huawei, but their ownership remains unclear. Huawei told the FT that it did not have plans for its own plants. The combined output from the three potential plants could surpass the current production capacity of similar lines at China's top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the FT said. SMIC plans to next year double manufacturing capacity for 7 nanometre chips, for which Huawei is its largest customer, the report said. Huawei and SMIC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Beijing is accelerating work on domestic AI chips, with companies developing processors that rival the performance of Nvidia's China-special H20, about which the government has expressed security concerns. Reuters reported in November that Huawei planned to start mass-producing its most advanced AI chip in the first quarter of 2025 despite grappling with the impact of U.S. restrictions. (Reporting by Dheeraj Kumar and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru)