HONG KONG/TAIPEI -- Alibaba Group Holding has unveiled its first self-developed artificial intelligence chip for data centers, a move aimed at reducing the Chinese tech giant's reliance on U.S. technology amid persistent tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The announcement also marks an important milestone in Alibaba's attempt to become a serious player in hardware. After starting out 20 years ago in e-commerce, the company is now following Google, Amazon and other Western internet rivals in attempting to move up the tech value chain with its own chip offerings.