Alibaba targets 20GW data center capacity by 2032, unveils V900 AI chip

Alibaba has announced ambitious plans to expand its global data center capacity to over 20 gigawatts by 2032, despite ongoing supply chain constraints. At its annual Apsara Conference, the company introduced the Zhenwu V900, a new AI accelerator that Alibaba claims is the most powerful AI chip currently available in China. The V900 features 216GB of memory and high-speed interconnects, with the company suggesting it can scale to clusters of 500,000 cards. However, Alibaba has provided limited technical specifications, such as FLOPS or power consumption, leading to industry skepticism regarding its competitive standing against Nvidia’s H200 GPUs. Furthermore, the V900 faces internal competition from Huawei’s Ascend 960DT, which has published more detailed performance metrics. As Alibaba navigates US-imposed sanctions on advanced chip technology, the company continues to prioritize rapid scaling to meet the surging demand for AI infrastructure.