Overview
- Alibaba and China Telecom launched a 10,000-chip AI cluster in Shaoguan, Guangdong, using Alibaba’s Zhenwu chips for training and inference on very large models.
- The companies say the site can expand to 100,000 chips to meet rising demand for computing in areas such as healthcare and advanced materials.
- Alibaba reports the network lets all chips operate as one system with about 30% higher efficiency, nearly tenfold single-card throughput, and roughly four-microsecond latency.
- Access is available to small and mid-size businesses through China Telecom’s platform with pay-by-card or hourly pricing.
- The rollout advances China’s push to replace restricted U.S. hardware, follows Huawei’s 10,000-card Ascend 910C cluster going live in Shenzhen last month, and lifted Alibaba shares by roughly 7% to 8% after the news.