--- title: Alibaba open-sources its AI chip software stack at WAIC,... description: Alibaba's chip design unit T-Head has open-sourced SAIL, the full software stack for its Zhenwu AI chip series, at the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-open-sources-its-ai-chip-software-stack-at-waic-targeting-nvidia-s-cuda-lock-in-khni2bmif twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Alibaba open-sources its AI chip software stack at WAIC, targeting Nvidia’s CUDA lock-in | daily.dev og:description: Alibaba's chip design unit T-Head has open-sourced SAIL, the full software stack for its Zhenwu AI chip series, at the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-open-sources-its-ai-chip-software-stack-at-waic-targeting-nvidia-s-cuda-lock-in-khni2bmif og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Khni2BmiF.png og:image:alt: Alibaba open-sources its AI chip software stack at WAIC, targeting Nvidia’s CUDA lock-in og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Alibaba open-sources its AI chip software stack at WAIC, targeting Nvidia’s CUDA lock-in **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Alibaba's chip design unit T-Head has open-sourced SAIL, the full software stack for its Zhenwu AI chip series, at the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. The move targets Nvidia's CUDA ecosystem lock-in, with T-Head claiming developers can migrate to SAIL-compatible frameworks in under seven days. The announcement follows similar open-sourcing moves by Huawei (CANN) and Moore Threads, all competing to attract AI engineers away from CUDA-dependent workflows onto Chinese hardware. CUDA still dominates with a 17-year head start and the largest library ecosystem in the industry. The timing is politically significant given Alibaba's recent addition to the Pentagon's Chinese military companies blacklist and accusations of AI model distillation against US companies. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Alibaba unveils the Zhenwu M890 as China’s NVIDIA alternative push hardens](https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-unveils-the-zhenwu-m890-as-china-s-nvidia-alternative-push-hardens-yelbqytuj) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [US export curbs push China's AI chips away from GPUs to custom ASICs](https://daily.dev/posts/us-export-curbs-push-china-s-ai-chips-away-from-gpus-to-custom-asics-cwhj4dhkn) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Taiwan’s Industry Titans Turbocharge World’s AI Infrastructure Buildout With NVIDIA](https://daily.dev/posts/taiwan-s-industry-titans-turbocharge-world-s-ai-infrastructure-buildout-with-nvidia-kkiqgvsm2) · NVIDIA · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What’s next for Chinese open-source AI](https://daily.dev/posts/what-s-next-for-chinese-open-source-ai-qxynqisyo) · MIT Technology Review · 29 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#gpu](https://daily.dev/tags/gpu), [#alibaba](https://daily.dev/tags/alibaba) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-open-sources-its-ai-chip-software-stack-at-waic-targeting-nvidia-s-cuda-lock-in-khni2bmif) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Alibaba open-sources its AI chip software stack at WAIC, targeting Nvidia’s CUDA lock-in","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-open-sources-its-ai-chip-software-stack-at-waic-targeting-nvidia-s-cuda-lock-in-khni2bmif","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-open-sources-its-ai-chip-software-stack-at-waic-targeting-nvidia-s-cuda-lock-in-khni2bmif"},"datePublished":"2026-07-18T12:25:45.345Z","dateModified":"2026-07-18T12:26:04.434Z","description":"Alibaba's chip design unit T-Head has open-sourced SAIL, the full software stack for its Zhenwu AI chip series, at the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/dbb1f1d21ca23bf40c8ca7bb3d69e70b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/dbb1f1d21ca23bf40c8ca7bb3d69e70b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/alibaba-open-sources-its-ai-chip-software-stack-at-waic-targeting-nvidia-s-cuda-lock-in-khni2bmif","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,gpu,alibaba","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Alibaba open-sources its AI chip software stack at WAIC, targeting Nvidia’s CUDA lock-in"}]} ```