BEIJING, March 24 (Reuters) - Alibaba ‌on Tuesday ​revealed its ​next-generation XuanTie C950 5-nanometer processor at an internal conference, the company said in a blog post, as the ‌Chinese tech giant gears up for the shift towards ⁠agentic AI.

* The 3.2 GHz server chip, built using open-source RISC-Vchip architecture, was ‌billed as "the highest performing RISC-VCPU ‌in the world" at a conference hosted by DAMO Academy,Alibaba's research arm, according to Chinese media reports. * The chip performs ​more than three times faster than itspredecessor, the XuanTie C920, the reports said. * The company did not reveal which fab ⁠manufactured thechip. * "RISC-V’s open-standard nature allows chip designers tocustomize instruction sets and accelerate specific AI workloadswith ​no or low licensing fees. This is particularly importantfor the development of AI agents," the blog post said. * ​Alibaba is accelerating in-house chip development ‌throughits T-Head semiconductor arm, primarily focusing on the Zhenwu810E chip series for AI training and inference, while ⁠theXuanTie series is focused on high-performance cloud systems andagentic AI. * The move comes after Alibaba last week launched Wukong,its enterprise platform optimised for AI ⁠agent workflows, ascompanies and institutions throughout China adopt OpenClaw. * Its international equivalent, Accio ​Work, was launched onMonday. The agentic AI platform says it can autonomously runcomplex business operations for small and medium-sizedenterprises. * The firm reorganised some of its ‌AI-focused teams underthe newly created Alibaba Token Hub earlier this month, whichfocuses on building AI work platforms ‌for enterprises. * The business strategy shift comes as Alibaba finds newways ⁠to ensure profitability as Chinese ‌AI models' token priceshave ​dropped dramatically amid fierce domestic competition.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Che Pan; Editing by Kevin Buckland and ‌Thomas Derpinghaus)

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