Alibaba says it built the ‘most powerful AI chip in China’ as the country races to catch up with the U.S.

Alibaba announced its new AI chip technologies and ambitious plans for more powerful models in China on Tuesday, ahead of a high-stakes meeting between Chinese and U.S. leaders. The company claimed its new Zhenwu V900 chip is the "most powerful AI chip in China," delivering three times the performance of its previous generation.

Alibaba's AI chips are used in its data centers to power frontier AI model training and inference. The company aims to train AI models at a scale of five to 10 trillion parameters, bringing it closer to leading U.S. models. Chinese AI company Moonshot recently released a model with 2.8 trillion parameters, the largest open model in the world.

Alibaba also plans to expand its data centers to meet the "exponentially rising demand for AI computing," projecting over 20 gigawatts' worth of computing capacity by 2032. This increased AI capability may give China more leverage in upcoming talks with Washington, as U.S. AI leaders warn of the threat China's development poses and call for a slowdown.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to visit Washington next week for a state visit and meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, where AI, trade, and tariffs are expected to be discussed. While Chinese advancements in AI offer Beijing more independence, U.S. restrictions have limited access to cutting-edge technologies, including AI chips and chipmaking machines.

Alibaba's CEO Eddie Wu emphasized the company's commitment to meeting customer demand for AI, acknowledging the challenges posed by global shortages in the AI data center supply chain. He also drew a parallel between AI growth and the industrial revolution, predicting that machines will surpass human thinking capacity.