Apple is suddenly re-engaging critical supply chain nodes in China, from trying to source DRAM and NAND directly from CXMT and YMTC, respectively, to making Alibaba's Qwen AI model available to its userbase in China under the Apple Intelligence umbrella. Now, a curious tidbit suggests that Apple has hired Alibaba's original team tasked with creating an open-source version of Qwen, presumably in a bid to improve its own Siri AI offering in China. Apple has apparently hired the OG open-source Qwen AI team, as it continues to eye CXMT and YMTC for precious memory chips According to the AI analyst […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-reportedly-grabs-the-og-team-behind-open-source-qwen-betting-on-alibabas-ai-to-rescue-siri-in-china/

The deal, which was rumored to be in the works last year, marks an important step for Apple's AI ambitions in a key market.

In a development that comes on the proverbial heels of China's formal approval of Apple Intelligence features for the country's consumers, Alibaba has notified that its Qwen family of AI models will be integrated into Apple Intelligence, bringing AI-powered experiences for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS users. Users in China will now be able to access Qwen’s entire range of AI capabilities, including text, image, and content generation, directly on Apple devices Alibaba has now officially confirmed that users in China will be able to access its Qwen AI models via Apple devices, going on to note in a statement: […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-intelligence-turns-to-alibabas-qwen-in-china-even-as-apple-is-likely-to-reserve-its-private-compute-secret-sauce-for-itself/

China has unveiled its new supercomputer, called LineShine, in Shenzen, which will deliver 2 ExaFlops of compute performance. The Chinese LineShine Supercomputer Is All Set To Become The Fastest In The World, Exceeding 2 ExaFlops During a conference at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen today, the fastest domestic supercomputer project was announced. Known as LineShine, the Supercomputer will be built in two phases and will deliver over 2 ExaFlops of compute. Currently, the world's fastest supercomputer is the AMD-based El Capitan, which has a peak compute of 2.8 Exaflops. Coming to the specifications, the LineShine Supercomputer is purely a […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/chinas-lineshine-supercomputer-2-exaflops-47000-cpus-zero-reliance-on-foreign-chips/

Reactions rippled through Alibaba's Qwen team after tech lead Junyang Lin stepped down following a major model launch.