Alibaba Plans 5–10T Parameter AI Model, Unveils New Chip
Synopsis
Alibaba is planning a 5–10 trillion-parameter AI model while unveiling its Zhenwu V900 chip and targeting more than 20 GW of global data-centre capacity by 2032.
Alibaba is planning a new artificial intelligence model with between 5 trillion and 10 trillion parameters as the Chinese technology giant expands its AI ambitions across models, chips and data centres.
CEO Eddie Wu announced the plan at Alibaba Cloud’s annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou on Tuesday, saying the company’s Qwen team is working on model architecture and data optimisation to handle more complex, longer-horizon tasks.
The planned system would be roughly two to four times larger than Alibaba’s current flagship Qwen3.8-Max which has 2.4 trillion parameters.
The announcement puts the Alibaba AI model trillion parameters plan at the centre of a much broader infrastructure push.
The announcement also included a new in-house processor, the Zhenwu V900 and a long-term expansion target for Alibaba Cloud.
Wu said the company wants its global data centre capacity to exceed 20 gigawatts by 2032.
Together, the developments show how the Eddie Wu AI strategy is moving beyond model development towards controlling more of the computing infrastructure needed to train and run increasingly large AI systems.
Qwen Moves Toward Much Larger Models
The Alibaba Qwen AI model roadmap is focused on increasingly complex tasks and artificial superintelligence. Alibaba also said its research teams have made progress on recursive self-improvement, where models can identify limitations, design experiments and generate data to improve future iterations.
The scale is notable, but parameter count alone does not determine how capable or efficient a model will be. Alibaba’s current Qwen3.8-Max uses a sparse mixture-of-experts architecture and, despite its 2.4 trillion total parameters, activates about 95 billion for a given task.
New Chip Targets China’s AI Hardware Gap
Alibaba introduced the Zhenwu V900 AI chip, which the company says delivers three times the performance of its M890 predecessor. Alibaba said a single cluster built around the new processor could support up to 500,000 cards for frontier-model training and inference.
The move comes as Chinese technology companies develop domestic alternatives to Nvidia hardware amid US export restrictions. That makes China AI chip vs Nvidia competition increasingly important to the country’s effort to build an independent AI ecosystem.
Alibaba Cloud Targets 20 GW
Alibaba also set a target for Alibaba Cloud data centre 20 GW capacity globally by 2032. Wu said AI demand remains exceptionally strong, while shortages across the data-centre supply chain are limiting expansion. The company expects to bring its AI supernodes online at commercial scale this quarter.
Source: Reuters
Vishal is an experienced Editor at Inspirepreneur Magazine with key interests in artificial intelligence, eCommerce, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and startup sector. Prior to joining Inspirepreneur, he was a Content Writer cum Correspondent at Siliconindia Magazine, where he worked on Company Profiles, Cover Stories, Executive Profiles, Feature Articles and Thought Leadership content.
