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T-Head Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
T-Head
Native name
平头哥半导体有限公司
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustrySemiconductors
FoundedSeptember 2018; 7 years ago (2018-09)
HeadquartersHangzhou, Zhejiang, China
ParentAlibaba Group
Websitewww.t-head.cn Edit this at Wikidata

T-Head Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (T-Head; Chinese: 平头哥半导体; pinyin: Píngtóugē Bàndǎotǐ) is the semiconductor subsidiary of the Alibaba Group.

T-Head focuses on open source instruction set architecture RISC-V in its processor design.

History

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In April 2018, Alibaba Group announced it would acquire C-Sky Microsystems, a designer of 32-bit embedded CPU processing cores. C-Sky was founded in Hangzhou in 2001 and was the first chip company in the world to receive a sizable investment from Alibaba. The timing came shortly after the U.S. government put a ban on selling chips and other components to ZTE. It was speculated that the acquisition was part of the plan to make China's integrated circuit industry self-sufficient.[1] Following the acquisition, Jack Ma stated Alibaba had invested in five semiconductor companies in the past four years.[2]

In September 2018, Alibaba announced the establishment of a new semiconductor subsidiary company called T-Head which is known as Pingtouge in China.[2][3] It was spun out of Alibaba's research institute DAMO Academy.[3] Pingtouge, which translates to "flat head brother", is the nickname given by Chinese internet users to the honey badger. The name was chosen as honey badgers were said to be brave and smart despite being which represented the spirit the new company aimed for.[2]

In July 2020, it was reported that Allwinner Technology and T-Head signed an agreement develop chips based on T-Head's XuanTie processor series.[3]

In March 2023, it was reported that T-Head was putting more effort into RISC-V chips as China was betting on the open-source chip design architecture as a means of achieving greater self-sufficiency in the semiconductor space in the face of US sanctions. At that point in time, T-Head had launched a total of eight RISC-V processors. Alipay stated it would be introducing RISC-V chips developed by itself and T-Head that will enable secure payment functions on wearable devices.[4]

Product history

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THead TH1520 SoC

In Jul 2019, Alibaba announced it had developed the XuanTie 910 which was the first CPU chip designed by T-Head. Based on RISC-V design, the chip was designed for IoT applications.[5]

In September 2019, Alibaba announced it had developed the Hanguang 800, its first self-developed AI chip. It was developed by DAMO Academy and T-Head.[6]

In October 2021, Alibaba announced it had developed the Yitian 710 that will be used for cloud computing operations. It was designed by T-Head based on ARM architecture and used the 5nm process.[7] According to an IEEE study in March 2024, Yitian 710 was the fastest Arm-based CPU for cloud servers.[8]

In November 2023, T-Head launched the Zhenyue 510, a controller integrated circuit for enterprise solid state drives used in cloud data centers.[9]

In September 2025, according to a report by China Central Television, T-Head had developed its latest AI chips series, the PPU which was said to have comparable performance to Nvidia’s H20 and A800 GPUs. The chips were used by China Unicom.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Yoshida, Junko (20 April 2018). "Alibaba Adds Embedded CPU Core Designer". EE Times. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Soo, Zen (20 September 2018). "Why Alibaba's chip company is named after the honey badger". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Liao, Shumin (23 July 2020). "China's Allwinner Rallies on Chip Tie-Up With Alibaba's T-Head". Yicai Global. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  4. ^ Cao, Ann (3 March 2023). "Alibaba's chip unit T-Head steps up RISC-V development in China". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  5. ^ Wu, Debby (25 July 2019). "Alibaba Unveils First Chip as China Pushes for Independence". Bloomberg News.
  6. ^ Horwitz, Josh (25 September 2025). "Alibaba unveils self-developed AI chip for cloud computing services". Reuters.
  7. ^ Pan, Che (19 October 2021). "Alibaba unveils 'breakthrough' chip for its servers, cloud computing". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  8. ^ Shilov, Anton (29 April 2024). "Alibaba's Yitian 710 is the fastest Arm-based CPU for cloud servers, study claims". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  9. ^ Pan, Che (2 November 2023). "Alibaba's chip design unit launches RISC-V chip for cloud flash storage". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  10. ^ Chen, Wency (17 September 2025). "Alibaba-developed AI processor on par with Nvidia's H20 chip, CCTV report shows". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 November 2025.