Alibaba has announced a new processor that it describes as China's most powerful chip for artificial intelligence work, along with plans to expand its AI model lineup. The company says the chip is built for training and running large models in data centres. The move comes as Chinese firms look for domestic alternatives to imported accelerators. Analysts say software support and manufacturing capacity will decide how quickly the chip is adopted at scale, and Alibaba has not yet given detailed benchmarks.
Nvidia broke through to a new record high even as a broad bond sell-off dragged other sectors lower. Demand for AI accelerators and high-bandwidth memory continues to outrun supply, and the companies buying them are financing an unprecedented build-out of data centres. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned that the boom could trigger market shocks, saying the bank is watching the cash flowing into AI very carefully. In China, humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics soared more than 600 percent on its market debut despite a US ban on its hardware.
The US Federal Trade Commission has opened a broad investigation into whether OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies have harmed consumers. The agency plans formal demands, similar to subpoenas, for documents and executive testimony, and will examine whether the companies broke federal laws barring unfair and deceptive practices, including misuse of consumer data or overstated product claims. A central question is the risk from autonomous AI agents. It is the first US enforcement action aimed at rogue agents, after incidents reported since July. The probe follows a White House meeting where AI firms agreed to voluntary safety standards.
High-bandwidth memory is expected to take close to 30% of DRAM makers' total wafer capacity in 2027, up from roughly 20% now, as suppliers shift lines toward chips used in AI accelerators. SK Hynix said it validated HBM5 with TSMC packaging while HBM4 begins entering Nvidia's next platform. Memory prices are feeding into the wider economy: chips made up nearly half of South Korea's September exports, and Morgan Stanley analysts have called the squeeze part of chipflation. Suppliers are responding with heavy investment, from ChangXin Memory Technologies to Micron and Samsung.
Alibaba Group used its Apsara Conference in Hangzhou to unveil the Zhenwu V900, an AI processor built by its T-Head semiconductor unit. CEO Eddie Wu said it delivers three times the performance of the M890 launched in May and can be clustered with up to 500,000 chips. Mass production is planned for the first quarter of 2027. Future Qwen models could hold 5 to 10 trillion parameters, up from 2.4 trillion in the current flagship. Alibaba also targets more than 20 gigawatts of global data centre capacity by 2032. Shares rose 5.1%.
President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and a group of technology chief executives are due to meet on artificial intelligence on Tuesday, September 29, according to people familiar with the plan, first reported by Axios. Trump has argued the US does not need new AI-specific regulation and told the UN General Assembly he rejects any attempt to build a globalist scheme to control AI. China has taken a different route, with rules covering algorithms and training data and labelling requirements for AI-generated content. Leading AI labs have warned about risks to humanity and asked governments to coordinate. Analysts expect export controls on advanced chips and compute to be the channel most likely to touch listed companies.
The companies building America's AI data centers are now at the centre of fights over electricity, water, land and pollution, NBC News reported. AI demand has pulled billions in financing toward a handful of little-known developers. The power numbers explain why: a single AI-focused campus can draw 50 to 100 megawatts, and Brookings notes the US AI sector may need 50 gigawatts of new capacity by 2028. The IEA projects global data centre electricity use could reach 945 TWh by 2030. Protests have followed in Imperial, California, and Louisiana regulators approved three new gas plants for a Meta AI campus.
Chip suppliers are giving sharply different accounts of the memory market. Industry trackers reported on September 26 that Acer and Phison Electronics disagree about where DRAM prices are heading, as supply improves for mainstream PC memory while AI server demand keeps the wider market constrained. Foundry capacity remains the bottleneck: Broadcom has warned that advanced-node capacity will stay tight through 2026 as AI accelerators take priority. SK hynix has committed about $38 billion to new memory output but says relief is roughly three years away. Samsung's foundry recovery is gaining pace, though 2-nanometre yields and the ramp of its Taylor fab in Texas remain hurdles.
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek is reportedly developing its own AI chip to cut its reliance on Nvidia and Huawei, and has been expanding its use of Huawei's Ascend processors for model training. Huawei said at its Connect conference on September 17 that it is moving its next data-centre accelerator, the Ascend 960DT, up to the first quarter of 2027. Supply is the bottleneck. US export controls keep Chinese designers away from advanced overseas foundries, SMIC's 7nm and 6nm capacity limits domestic output, and high-bandwidth memory is tight. Analysts say the programme is still early and will depend on how fast domestic foundry and memory capacity can grow.
Memory prices are still rising, just more slowly. TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to gain 13% to 18% quarter on quarter in Q3 2026, with NAND up 10% to 15%, as long-term supply deals cap server prices. The damage lands on consumer hardware: notebook makers are passing higher memory costs into retail prices, and smartphone vendors are lifting prices and trimming production plans. Gartner had forecast a 130% surge in combined DRAM and SSD prices by the end of 2026, pushing PC prices up 17% and phone prices up 13%.