Alibaba Developing Quantum Chips to Power Diverse Industries

Hangzhou (China): China’s e-tailer giant Alibaba is developing quantum chips (processors) to power a range of industries, including e-commerce, logistics, finance, materials and pharmaceuticals, a senior official said on Wednesday.

“Our Damo Academy is developing quantum processors (chips) to power solutions for a range of industries, including e-commerce, logistics, finance, materials, and pharmaceutics,” said Alibaba Chief Technology Officer Jeff Zhang at the group’s “Cloud Computing Conference 2018” in this scenic ancient city, about 180km southwest of Shanghai.

Unveiling the $40-billion group’s roadmap to develop disruptive technologies over the next five years on the opening day of the annual tech event, Zhang said the academy would launch its first AI (Artificial Intelligence) inference chip (AliNPU) in the second half of 2019 for use in autonomous driving, smart cities, and smart logistics. (IANS)