On Monday, Alibaba Group Holding’s BABA XuanTie C930 processor injects fresh momentum into China’s semiconductor industry.

Analysts highlighted to the SCMP the processor’s potential to broaden domestic use of open-source chips built on the RISC-V instruction set architecture, countering U.S. semiconductor sanctions.

Alibaba’s Damo Academy showcased the C930 central processing unit (CPU) design in February.

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The C930 will begin shipping to clients in March.

Damo also announced plans for new XuanTie processors designed for AI acceleration, automotive applications, and high-speed interconnection.

Global RISC-V system-on-a-chip unit shipments could reach 16.2 billion by 2030, up from 1.3 billion in 2023, to reach a market size worth $92.7 billion, SHD Group told the SCMP.

Guotai Junan Securities analysts told the SCMP that RISC-V demonstrates significant potential in the AI era, just as DeepSeek has disrupted OpenAI’s monopoly with its open-source, low-cost, and high-performance advantages.

For context, China’s strategic pivot towards the open-source RISC-V architecture challenged Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD and Intel Corp’s INTC control on the x86 chip standard.

RISC-V’s design for cloud computing and smart cars indicates China’s intent to circumvent U.S. sanctions and reduce dependency on Western chip technologies.

Last week, Alibaba launched a new reasoning model comparable to DeepSeek’s R1.

Alibaba was among the first major global tech companies to open-source its large-scale AI models. Alibaba earmarked $53 billion for cloud and AI infrastructure over the next three years.

Benchmark’s Fawne Jiang hailed Alibaba as a leading player in China’s AI sector.

Price Action: BABA stock is down 5.26% at $133.23 at last check Monday.

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