Alibaba’s Pingtouge Pushes for Open Chip Ecosystem in AIoT Era
Hangzhou, China – Alibaba’s chip design unit,Pingtouge, is making a bold move to establish itself as a key player in the burgeoning AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things) market. At therecent Cloud Computing Conference (Yunqi Conference) in Hangzhou, the company unveiled its latest initiative: a collaborative ecosystem aimed at accelerating chip innovation and empowering developers.
Pingtouge, known for its XuanTie series of processors and the Wujian chip platform, has been vocal about its ambition to become a foundation infrastructure provider for the AIoT era. This vision goesbeyond simply producing chips; it entails creating a robust ecosystem that fosters collaboration and innovation across the entire chip design and development landscape.
We want to build a more important community, the Pingtouge Chip Open Community, said Meng Jianyi, a researcher at Pingtouge Semiconductor. This community will provide a platform for developers, integrating chips and software to enable them to achieve ‘one-day onboarding, five-day prototyping, and 20-day product launch’ goals.
Pingtouge’s efforts are driven by the rapidly evolving AIoT landscape. IDC predicts that by 2025, each person globally will interact with connected devices nearly 4,800 times daily, generating a massive amount of data. This surge in data will necessitate a shift in the chip industry, moving beyond hardware production to focus on providing comprehensive services.
The chip industry is undergoing a transformation, Meng said. The future of innovation will be based on deep collaboration between cloud and edge. More and more products will not only achieve intelligence on the edge but also on the cloud. Every product will exist in the form of a digital twin. This requires a fundamental change inthe chip industry’s infrastructure.
To address these evolving needs, Pingtouge has identified four key trends shaping the chip industry:
- Foundry on Cloud: Foundries are increasingly adopting cloud-based solutions to enhance efficiency.
- EDA on Cloud: Cloud-based Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools are accelerating chip design processes.
- Open-Source Chips: Open-source chip designs are reducing development costs and fostering collaboration.
- Customized Chips: Tailored chip designs are enhancing competitiveness by meeting specific application requirements.
Pingtouge is actively contributing to this shift by building acomprehensive cloud-edge integrated technology system. This system encompasses XuanTie processors, the Wujian chip platform, Alios operating system, foundational software, and domain-specific algorithms. This integrated approach aims to provide ubiquitous computing power for diverse applications.
The company has already secured partnerships with several key players in the chip ecosystem.Nine semiconductor IP providers, including Cadence, have joined Pingtouge’s IP Alliance. TSMC (Nanjing) General Manager Luo Zhenqiu also participated in the event, demonstrating the growing support for Pingtouge’s vision.
The company’s efforts have already yielded tangible results. Over 100 companies are currently utilizing XuanTie processors and the Wujian platform. During the conference, seven companies unveiled seven new chips based on XuanTie, covering diverse applications such as vision, voice, microcontrollers, and wireless communication. These companies include Ju芯, Yuntian Lifei, Qingwei Intelligent, LianShengDe, and Boya Hongtu.
Looking ahead, Pingtouge is committed to further innovation in chip architecture. Qi Xiaoning, General Manager of Alibaba Pingtouge Semiconductor, announced that the company will continue to invest in three key technologies:
- In-Memory Computing: This technology aims to improveperformance and efficiency by integrating memory and processing units.
- Neuromorphic Chips: These chips are inspired by the human brain and are designed for efficient AI processing.
- AI-Assisted Encoding and Decoding: This technology leverages AI to optimize data compression and decompression processes.
Pingtouge’s efforts to foster an open and collaborative chip ecosystem are a significant step towards realizing the full potential of the AIoT era. By empowering developers and fostering innovation across the industry, the company is positioning itself as a key player in shaping the future of computing.
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