Alibaba's New AI Chip Specifications Rival Nvidia's H20
A recent report has revealed that Alibaba Group has developed a new artificial intelligence chip whose key specifications match those of Nvidia's H20 processors, marking a significant advancement in China's domestic semiconductor capabilities.
According to China Central Television's evening news program broadcast on September 16, the disclosure came during coverage of China Unicom's green energy computing center project in the Sanjiangyuan region.
The report revealed that Alibaba's chip division T-Head Semiconductor has developed a PPU (Processing Processing Unit) chip with specifications that surpass Nvidia's A800 and rival the H20. The chip features 96GB of HBM2e memory, exceeding the A800's 80GB capacity and matching the H20's memory size, though the H20 uses the more advanced HBM3 standard. The chip's inter-chip connectivity reaches 700GB/s, outperforming the A800's 400GB/s but slightly trailing the H20's capabilities.
CCTV's broadcast also detailed major procurement agreements for domestic AI chips. Alibaba Cloud secured contracts for 1,024 devices with 16,384 Pingtouge computing cards delivering 1,945 petaflops of computing power. The Chinese Academy of Sciences ordered 512 devices with 4,096 cards from MetaX, while other domestic chip companies including Moore Threads, Biren Technology, and Enflame Technology also secured significant orders.
The television report did not disclose the chip's computational performance metrics, though industry observers suggest it may still lag behind the H20 in raw processing power. However, recent reports indicate Alibaba has been using its self-developed PPU chips for lightweight AI model training since early 2025, partially replacing some Nvidia GPUs.
This development follows earlier reports from The Wall Street Journal in late August that Alibaba was developing AI chips compatible with Nvidia's architecture to address supply gaps in China's market. The advancement signals China's growing capabilities in developing alternatives to foreign semiconductor technology amid ongoing trade restrictions.