Alibaba unveils new AI chip for machine learning

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd released a new artificial intelligence chip on Wednesday that specializes in machine-learning tasks, as China steps up efforts to integrate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G into its economy.

The homegrown AI inference chip, a neural processing unit (NPU) named Hanguang 800, was unveiled during Alibaba Cloud's annual computing conference in Hangzhou, as the company strives to make its e-commerce platform more efficient using AI.

"The launch of Hanguang 800 is an important step in our pursuit of next-generation technologies, boosting computing capabilities that will drive both our current and emerging businesses while improving energy-efficiency," Jeff Zhang, Alibaba chief technology officer and president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said in a statement.