Alibaba Unveils Zhenwu V900 Chip to Combat US Export Bans

During its annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, Alibaba Group unveiled the Zhenwu V900, which the company describes as China's most powerful AI chip. Developed by the T-Head semiconductor unit, the V900 delivers three times the performance of its predecessor, the Zhenwu M890, and supports clusters of up to 500,000 chips. The processor is scheduled for mass production and commercial release in the first quarter of 2027.

CEO Eddie Wu framed these advancements as the start of a Machine Intelligence era, announcing plans to train next-generation AI models, including the Qwen 4.5 and Qwen 5 series. These models are projected to scale from 5 trillion to 10 trillion parameters, up to four times the size of the current flagship Qwen 3.8 Max. To support this infrastructure, Alibaba aims to expand its global data center capacity to over 20 gigawatts by 2032, supported by a US$53 billion three-year investment plan. This expansion includes new cloud regions in Turkey, Finland, and the Netherlands.

These initiatives aim to create domestic alternatives to Nvidia processors following U.S. export restrictions on high-end semiconductors. The announcements immediately precede a state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, where AI competition, trade, and tariffs are expected to be primary topics. Following the news, Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares rose as much as 5.1% to a one-month high.