"The acquisition of Zhongtian Microsystems is an important part of Alibaba's chip layout. 'Alibaba's CTO Zhang Jianfeng said that IP Core is the core of basic chip capabilities, and entering the IP Core area is the basis for Chinese chips to achieve 'autonomy and control'.
In recent years, the self-sufficiency rate of China's chips is constantly increasing, but in many areas, domestic chips still have a large gap. The data shows that in 2016 China's chip imports amounted to US$230 billion, and the cost was almost second to crude oil imports. Twice the amount of money. The problem of 'coreless souls' was again severely presented to people.
In September 2001, Hangzhou Zhongtian Microsystems Co., Ltd. was established in Hangzhou under the demand of national advocacy and marketization. In the past fifteen years, it has always adhered to the concept of independent innovation, developed an embedded CPU with advanced international standards, and developed its own independent knowledge. The 32-bit C-SKY family of embedded CPU cores with low power consumption, high performance, high code density, and ease of use are widely used in IoT smart hardware, digital audio and video, information security, networking and communications, industrial The control and automotive electronics and other fields are the only CPU suppliers in China that are based on autonomous instruction architecture to develop embedded CPUs and achieve large-scale mass production. As of now, the cumulative shipments of its C-SKY CPU-based SoC chips have exceeded 7 percent. Billion.
According to Yan Xiaolang, founder of Zhongtian Microsystems, 'Zhongtian Micro's team is committed to promoting domestic CPU's independent R&D and innovation capabilities. After joining Alibaba, we hope to promote large-scale commercial use of domestic self-owned chips through Alibaba's powerful technology platform and ecosystem integration capabilities. To accelerate the promotion of 'China Core' in various fields of application. '
As early as 2015, Ali had in-depth cooperation with Zhongtian Microsystems and developed the Yun on Chip architecture for various segments of the Internet of Things. In early 2016, Alibaba Group officially became the largest shareholder of Zhongtian Microsystems. Shareholders. In June 2017, Ali injected 500 million yuan into Zhongtian Micro, formally stepping into the field of chip infrastructure design.
Zhongtian Microsystems has released three cloud chips based on the AliOS software and hardware framework of Alibaba Cloud, including a computer vision chip, an MCU platform chip that integrates access security, and the world’s first AliOS-based device launched in cooperation with ZTE Microelectronics. Very low power NB-IoT IoT security chip.
Mr. Yan Xiaolang stated that our cooperation with Alibaba.com is not only economic, but also more cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship. The wave of the Internet of Things is facing on the way, and new applications of artificial intelligence and deep learning are gradually being transplanted from the PC side. To hand-held terminals, the future of end-use applications is flourishing, and these are inseparable from the support of the CPU. Zhongtian Microsystems has mastered the core technologies of research and development and adheres to independent innovation. We welcome all developers to develop on the innovative Zhongtian Micro-CPU Platform. With a personalized system chip and differentiated applications.
Yesterday (April 19th), Alibaba Dharma said that it is developing a neural network chip, Ali-NPU, which will be used in image-based video analysis, machine learning and other AI inference calculations. According to the design, the chip The price/performance ratio will be 40 times that of similar products. The development of this chip will better realize the application of AI intelligence in business scenarios, improve the operation efficiency, and reduce costs.
This wholly-owned acquisition of Zhongtian Microsystems fulfilled one of the original intentions and commitments of the Alibaba Group when it established the Tamayuan at Yunqi Conference last year: Alibaba needed the ability to design and transform the SoC architecture of the chip, and it will integrate at a larger level. The scientific research forces will achieve breakthroughs in the core technological capabilities of the chip. Both the development of the chip industry and the demand for independent research and development of core technologies will play a role in promoting the development of the chip industry.
The process of integrating Alibaba and Zhongtian Microsystems from cooperation, equity participation to wholly-owned acquisition is also consistent with the logic of Alibaba's consistent investment operation. Prior to this, Alibaba Chief Investment Officer Xie Ying stated that Alibaba's investment is mainly divided into two categories. : One is a strongly coupled investment based on Alibaba Group's business, which enhances the Group's business through acquisitions and investments to increase efficiency; the other is Pathfinder Investment. The current business relationship is not strong, but we believe that it will have an impact on the future of the industry. Also cast, such as artificial intelligence technology.