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AIQuiet 4d · day 4

Alibaba unveils 20GW datacenter plan and Zhenwu V900 AI chip

CEO Eddie Wu announces six-year infrastructure expansion and China's latest semiconductor at Apsara conference.

newest coverage 4d agosummary written 4d ago4 pieces NewswiresRedditGoogle News

What to know

  • Alibaba plans to expand datacenter capacity to 20GW over six years while deploying the Zhenwu V900, a proprietary AI chip with 216GB memory and three times the performance of its predecessor.
  • The expansion positions Alibaba in the global AI infrastructure race, though competitors are moving faster: USA has 37.7GW under construction; OpenAI targets 10GW by 2029; Meta plans 5GW.
  • CEO Wu framed AI as a transformative technology comparable to electricity and engines, predicting it will eventually handle 99.9% of cognition work across domains.

“For such an ultra-complex, long-horizon task, AI will break it down into tens of millions of subtasks, executed by millions of agents working non-stop until completion.”

Eddie Wu, Alibaba CEO · The Register ↗

Eddie Wu Alibaba CEOAlibaba Cloud Chinese cloud and AI infrastructure providerT-Head Alibaba semiconductor subsidiary

Alibaba unveils 20GW datacenter plan and Zhenwu V900 AI chip
The Register

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articles

Peak 1 piece in one hour at Sep 21, 11 PM; 4 pieces over 4 days (3 articles · 1 post) Sep 21, 11 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 22, 12 AM — quietSep 22, 1 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 3 AM — quietSep 22, 4 AM — quietSep 22, 5 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Google News 1Sep 22, 6 AM — quietSep 22, 7 AM — quietSep 22, 8 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Reddit 1Sep 22, 9 AM — quietSep 22, 10 AM — quietSep 22, 11 AM — quietSep 22, 12 PM — quietSep 22, 1 PM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — quietSep 22, 3 PM — quietSep 22, 4 PM — quietSep 22, 5 PM — quietSep 22, 6 PM — quietSep 22, 7 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 9 PM — quietSep 22, 10 PM — quietSep 22, 11 PM — quietSep 23, 12 AM — quietSep 23, 1 AM — quietSep 23, 2 AM — quietSep 23, 3 AM — quietSep 23, 4 AM — quietSep 23, 5 AM — quietSep 23, 6 AM — quietSep 23, 7 AM — quietSep 23, 8 AM — quietSep 23, 9 AM — quietSep 23, 10 AM — quietSep 23, 11 AM — quietSep 23, 12 PM — quietSep 23, 1 PM — quietSep 23, 2 PM — quietSep 23, 3 PM — quietSep 23, 4 PM — quietSep 23, 5 PM — quietSep 23, 6 PM — quietSep 23, 7 PM — quietSep 23, 8 PM — quietSep 23, 9 PM — quietSep 23, 10 PM — quietSep 23, 11 PM — quietSep 24, 12 AM — quietSep 24, 1 AM — quietSep 24, 2 AM — quietSep 24, 3 AM — quietSep 24, 4 AM — quietSep 24, 5 AM — quietSep 24, 6 AM — quietSep 24, 7 AM — quietSep 24, 8 AM — quietSep 24, 9 AM — quietSep 24, 10 AM — quietSep 24, 11 AM — quietSep 24, 12 PM — quietSep 24, 1 PM — quietSep 24, 2 PM — quietSep 24, 3 PM — quietSep 24, 4 PM — quietSep 24, 5 PM — quietSep 24, 6 PM — quietSep 24, 7 PM — quietSep 24, 8 PM — quietSep 24, 9 PM — quietSep 24, 10 PM — quietSep 24, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — quietYesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 9 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 1 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 1 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 3 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quietToday, 5 AM — quietToday, 6 AM — quietToday, 7 AM — quietToday, 8 AM — quietToday, 9 AM — quiet 1–2
Sep 22Sep 23Sep 24yesterdaynow · 10:09 AM ET
  1. 1

    Alibaba's expansion pace lags major competitors

    Analysis notes that while Alibaba's 20GW target is substantial, it trails competitors significantly: the USA alone has 37.7GW under construction, OpenAI's Stargate project targets 10GW by 2029, Meta plans a 5GW campus, and Amazon added 3.8GW in 2025 alone. The Register characterizes Alibaba as moving more slowly and potentially ending with a "relatively modest datacenter fleet" in comparative terms.

    “Steam and combustion engines were designed merely to do what horses and laborers were already doing: pumping water, weaving, and hauling.”
    — Eddie Wu, Alibaba CEO · source
  2. 2

    Alibaba announces 20GW datacenter expansion and Zhenwu V900 chip

    CEO Eddie Wu delivered the announcement at Alibaba's Apsara conference, outlining a six-year plan to scale the company's global datacenter fleet to 20GW capacity. Wu also announced the Zhenwu V900, a processor from Alibaba's T-Head semiconductor unit described as possessing 216GB of memory and 1200 GB/s inter-chip interconnect bandwidth.

    “The most powerful AI chip in China today, delivering three times the performance of its predecessor, the Zhenwu M890.”
    — Eddie Wu
    1. 1 outlet Alibaba Cloud plans six-year stroll to 20GW of datacenters, reveals chip to power them

      first by The Register, 4d ago