Recently, Wang Jian, chairman of Alibaba's technical committee, was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, which has aroused the attention and heated discussion of all walks of life. As the founder of Alibaba Cloud, Wang Jian presided over the development of Feitian, China's only self-developed cloud computing operating system, realizing a breakthrough in China's cloud computing from scratch. This achievement not only shows Alibaba's strength and contribution in the field of technology, but also reveals Alibaba's "true identity": not only as an e-commerce giant, but also as a cloud computing leader.
The birth of Feitian cloud computing system stemmed from the data and computing power challenges that Alibaba faced in 2008. At the time, Alibaba used mostly foreign technologies such as IBM minicomputers, Oracle commercial databases and EMC centralized storage. As users surge, data grows, and every morning between eight and nine-thirty, the server's processor usage soars to 98 percent. According to the growth rate of Taobao users at that time, Oracle Cluster will soon be unable to support business development, and the core problem is insufficient computing power.
In order to solve this problem, Wang Jian led the team to build the Feitian cloud computing system from scratch and pioneered the data-centric cloud computing architecture. The system is capable of scheduling thousands of computers simultaneously to meet the requirements of large-scale data processing.
On July 28, 2011, Alibaba Cloud's self-developed "Feitian" cloud computing platform began to provide cloud computing services in the form of public cloud services, and an important feature of Feitian cloud computing system is the RISC-V architecture.
The emergence of RISC-V architecture provides a breakthrough for Alibaba, allowing it to get rid of its dependence on foreign technology and achieve independent innovation and control. Wang Jian said that RISC-V is a "free" instruction set, without patent and copyright restrictions, and can be customized and optimized according to your own needs.
Based on the RISC-V architecture, Alibaba has developed its own processor, the Hanguang 800, which is China's first commercial cloud AI chip. The 800 chip has the characteristics of high performance, low power consumption and low cost, and can be widely used in image recognition, speech synthesis, natural language processing and other fields.
Alibaba has not only achieved independent innovation in the RISC-V architecture, but also actively promoted the internationalization and standardization of the RISC-V architecture. In October 2019, Alibaba officially joined the RISC-V Foundation as a member of its board of directors. Alibaba also launched the China RISC-V Industry Alliance with Tsinghua University, the Institute of Computing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions, aiming to promote the development and application of RISC-V in China.
Alibaba's independent innovation and leadership in the field of cloud computing not only reflects its vision and investment in scientific and technological development, but also reflects its sense of responsibility and responsibility for national security and national interests. As the state-run People's Daily said: "Huawei's lessons must not be forgotten."
As China's largest communications equipment manufacturer and one of the world's largest smartphone suppliers, Huawei has suffered unreasonable suppression and blockade from the US government. Under the pretext of "national security", the US government has banned US companies from selling chips, software and other key technologies to Huawei, and pressured other countries to ban the use of Huawei's 5G equipment. These measures have caused huge losses and difficulties for Huawei, forcing it to sell its Honor brand and weakening its competitiveness in the global market.
The lessons of Huawei's suppression by the United States tell us that science and technology are the most important tools of the country, and without the ability of independent innovation in science and technology, there is no right to speak and take the initiative.
Alibaba's "real identity" exposure allows us to see an Alibaba that is not only an e-commerce giant, but also a cloud computing leader. Alibaba's independent innovation capabilities in the field of cloud computing not only provide strong support for its own development and competitiveness, but also make important contributions to the country's scientific and technological progress and security guarantee.
Alibaba's scientific and technological achievements represented by Feitian cloud computing system demonstrate the strength and potential of Chinese enterprises in the field of science and technology, and also demonstrate China's confidence and determination in the field of science and technology. We look forward to Alibaba continuing to play its leading role in cloud computing in the future to promote the development and prosperity of China's technology industry."