Recently, there have been reports that Alibaba is planning to place an order with AMD for 40,000 to 50,000 MI308AI chips. This move reflects Alibaba's strong demand in the field of artificial intelligence and its emphasis on technological development.
AMD MI308 is a compliance AI chip specifically customized for the Chinese market, designed to meet the growing demand for AI computing. According to reports, the chip received export approval from the U.S. government in July and, along with NVIDIA's H20 chip, became a compliant product. However, compared to the H20, the MI308 performs better in terms of cost-effectiveness and security.
The MI308 features a high memory capacity of 192GB HBM3, which is significantly higher than the 96GB of the NVIDIA H20, and even in subsequent updated versions, it only increased to 141GB. This clearly gives the MI308 an advantage in memory capacity. In addition, the unit price of the MI308 is approximately $12,000, about 15% cheaper than the H20. This price advantage undoubtedly plays an important role in Alibaba's procurement decision.
More importantly, the MI308 has not been questioned regarding the security issues faced by NVIDIA chips, enhancing its market competitiveness. This factor makes it possible for the MI308 to maintain a certain market share even though NVIDIA's H200 chip is more powerful in performance.
Regarding NVIDIA, the report indicates that the company has informed its Chinese customers that it plans to start shipping H200 to the Chinese market in mid-February before the Lunar New Year. According to estimates, NVIDIA will first fulfill initial orders with existing inventory, with a shipment volume between 40,000 and 80,000 units. This dynamic also reflects the increasingly fierce competition in the chip industry under the current market conditions.
Alibaba's large-scale procurement plan marks its strategic layout in AI technology and computing capabilities, aiming to enhance its competitiveness in the industry. This move not only accelerates Alibaba's technological progress in the field of artificial intelligence but may also have a profound impact on the entire industry's chip demand and supply chain.
