Shares of Alibaba rose approximately 3% in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday following the company’s announcement of advanced artificial intelligence hardware and a significant infrastructure expansion strategy. The Chinese technology giant revealed the Zhenwu V900, its latest AI processor, alongside ambitious plans to grow its global data center footprint to more than 20 gigawatts by the end of the decade.
The developments were showcased at the Apsara Conference, the annual flagship event for Alibaba Cloud, held in Hangzhou. The new Zhenwu V900 chip is engineered to deliver three times the performance of the Zhenwu M890, which was introduced earlier in May. Mass production and commercial availability for the V900 are scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. Currently, Alibaba’s existing Zhenwu chips are utilized by over 650 clients across various sectors, including manufacturing, energy, finance, and automotive industries.
These moves highlight Alibaba’s intensifying commitment to building the foundational infrastructure that supports the global AI boom. This strategic push occurs as competitors such as Nvidia, Meta, and Huawei accelerate their own investments in computing power and data center capabilities. For instance, Nvidia recently outlined plans to support up to 2 gigawatts of AI infrastructure in Australia by 2027, while Meta announced in July that it is constructing its first major data center in Alberta, Canada, with an estimated cost of $9 billion.
In addition to hardware, Alibaba provided updates on its software roadmap. The company confirmed that its next-generation Qwen 4 model is currently undergoing training, with future iterations including Qwen 4.5 and Qwen 5 also planned. Eddie Wu, CEO of Alibaba Group, emphasized the vast potential remaining in AI development, likening the current state of machine intelligence to the early days of electrification. He described AI coding as the “light bulb” of this new era, signaling what he termed an “enormous growth runway” for the technology.
Great marketing at Apsara Conference, but will international clients actually trust these chips given the current geopolitical tensions and export restrictions?
Eddie Wu calling AI coding the light bulb is such a relatable analogy. It really does feel like we are still in the early adoption phase.
Three percent is decent, but isn’t twenty gigawatts by 2032 barely a rounding error compared to what Nvidia or Google are building right now?
V900 delivering three times the performance of the M890 is a serious jump. Hope mass production in 2027 goes smoothly without supply chain hiccups.