Alibaba plans to create hardware as well. In order to do so, it is working on a subsidiary that is engaged in the manufacture of chips. The aim is to launch an AI chip in the second half of 2019 that can be used in autonomous vehicles, smart cities and the logistics sector.
Last Wednesday, the Chinese company organized an event in Hangzhou at which it announced that its subsidiary will manufacture AI chips and embedded processors to help the company gain market share in the fast-growing cloud and Internet-of-Things business.
Less dependent
By setting up this subsidiary, CEO Jack Ma’s company is responding to an explicit need on the part of the Chinese government. It wants to play a greater role in the global market for processors and other chips and has therefore asked companies to invest more in this area. This would also reduce the country’s dependence on the United States for this type of technology.
Little else is known about the company. For example, we do not know who will be in charge and what timeline the company has in mind. Hangzhou C-Sky Microsystems most likely plays a role in the plans. That was taken over by Alibaba in April. At the time, CEO Jack Ma stated that China should mainly produce its own core technology.
Next year the company will say goodbye to Jack Ma as CEO. Recently, he suggested that he would like to make room for younger, more talented people.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
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