Alibaba Develops Next-gen Chip for Agentic Ai, Chinese Media Says

BEIJING, March 24 (Reuters) - Alibaba 9988.HK on Tuesday revealed its next-generation XuanTie C950 5-nanometer processor at an internal conference on Tuesday, local media reported, as the Chinese tech giant gears up for the shift towards agentic AI.

• The 3.2 GHz server chip, built using open-source RISC-V chip architecture, was billed as "the highest performing RISC-V CPU in the world" at a conference hosted by DAMO Academy, Alibaba's research arm, according to the reports.
• The chip performs more than three times faster than its predecessor, the XuanTie C920, the reports said.
• The company did not reveal which fab manufactured the chip.
• Alibaba did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
• Alibaba is accelerating in-house chip development through its T-Head semiconductor arm, primarily focusing on the Zhenwu 810E chip series for AI training and inference, while the XuanTie series is focused on high-performance cloud systems and agentic AI.
• The move comes after Alibaba last week launched Wukong, its enterprise platform optimised for AI agent workflows, as companies and institutions throughout China adopt OpenClaw.
• Its international equivalent, Accio Work, was launched on Monday. The agentic AI platform says it can autonomously run complex business operations for small and medium-sized enterprises.
• The firm reorganised some of its AI-focused teams under the newly created Alibaba Token Hub earlier this month, which focuses on building AI work platforms for enterprises.
• The business strategy shift comes as Alibaba finds new ways to ensure profitability as Chinese AI models' token prices have dropped dramatically amid fierce domestic competition.