After launching its own chip, Alibaba buys Chinese AI chipmaker

After announcing its very own neural network chip, Alibaba has made another step towards strengthening its new AI chips business. The e-commerce giant announced on April 20th that it will fully acquire local chip designer C-SKY (中天微), according to QQ News.

“Acquiring C-SKY is an important step for Alibaba’s microchip layout,” said Alibaba’s CTO Jeff Zhang (Zhang Jianfeng). Zhang added that IP core is the heart of basic chip capability and that entering the field of IP core means realizing an “autonomous, controllable” foundation for China’s chips. In electronic design, an IP core refers to a chip layout design that is the intellectual property of one party.

Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems is an integrated circuit design house. The company has developed 7 types of CPUs covering applications including IoT, digital audio and video, information security, network and communications, industrial control and automotive electronics.

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