Alibaba says modular design delivers AI data centres in 100 days at 10% lower cost

Alibaba Group Holding is revolutionizing AI infrastructure with its innovative modular architecture, delivering data centres in just 100 days at a 10% lower cost. According to a report by China Securities Journal, Alibaba Cloud's CUBE 5.0 has reduced the delivery time for large-scale AI data centres from six to 12 months in domestic markets to just 100 days.

This new architecture has also increased production efficiency by over 100%, with more than double the volume of modular data centres delivered within a given time frame.

The key to Alibaba's success lies in its prefabricated modular data centres, which split infrastructure into separate components manufactured in factories and then assembled on-site like building blocks. This innovative approach differs from traditional on-site sequential installation of power, cooling, and IT systems. Alibaba's CUBE 5.0 has raised the overall modularity rate across five key systems to 90%, including power supply, cooling, security, intelligent management, and fire protection.

Alibaba has already piloted this technology in Ulanqab and Zhongwei, both in northern and northwestern China, respectively. Moreover, the architecture has received certification for expansion into European and Southeast Asian markets. As part of its 380 billion yuan AI capital expenditure commitment, Alibaba is aggressively pursuing global data centre expansion. The company recently launched its first data centres in France, further diversifying its overseas footprint.

Alibaba's modular data centre innovation comes at a time when major tech companies worldwide are pursuing similar advancements to meet the increasing demand for rapid scalability in the AI boom. In the United States, Google pioneered modular data centre concepts, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms are also utilizing prefabricated modules to scale their cloud and AI offerings faster than traditional builds allow.