BEIJING, March 24 (Reuters) - Alibaba 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.
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* The 3.2 GHz server chip, built using open-source RISC-Vchip architecture, was billed as "the highest performing RISC-VCPU 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 itspredecessor, the XuanTie C920, the reports said. * The company did not reveal which fab manufactured thechip. * Alibaba did not immediately respond to an emailed requestfor comment. * Alibaba is accelerating in-house chip development throughits T-Head semiconductor arm, primarily focusing on the Zhenwu810E chip series for AI training and inference, while theXuanTie series is focused on high-performance cloud systems andagentic AI. * The move comes after Alibaba last week launched Wukong,its enterprise platform optimised for AI agent workflows, ascompanies and institutions throughout China adopt OpenClaw. * Its international equivalent, Accio Work, was launched onMonday. The agentic AI platform says it can autonomously runcomplex business operations for small and medium-sizedenterprises. * The firm reorganised some of its AI-focused teams underthe newly created Alibaba Token Hub earlier this month, whichfocuses on building AI work platforms for enterprises. * The business strategy shift comes as Alibaba finds newways to ensure profitability as Chinese AI models' token priceshave dropped dramatically amid fierce domestic competition.
(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Che Pan; Editing by Kevin Buckland)