The former CEO of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), Daniel Zhang (張勇), yesterday resigned as head of its cloud computing unit as the Chinese e-commerce empire wraps up a leadership reshuffle.
Alibaba said it would invest US$1 billion in a technology fund Zhang would establish to support the firm’s strategies for future growth.
Zhang stepped down on the same day he surrendered his roles as Alibaba’s CEO and chairman.
Photo: AP
In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Alibaba said that Eddie Wu (吳泳銘) is to replace Zhang as its new CEO and head of its cloud unit. Wu and Alibaba’s new chairman Joseph Tsai (蔡崇信) assumed their new roles by Monday, with Alibaba saying it has “completed its leadership transition.”
Alibaba expressed its “deepest appreciation” to Zhang for his contributions to the company over the past 16 years.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong stock price was down 3.6 percent following yesterday’s announcement.
In an internal letter dated Sunday and viewed by the Associated Press, Tsai wrote that Zhang had “expressed his wish to transition away from his role” as chief of the cloud business, and that the Alibaba board had “respected and accepted Daniel’s decision.”
“Daniel will continue to contribute to Alibaba by channeling his expertise differently,” Tsai wrote.
Alibaba has been restructuring itself into six business units with the aim of eventually listing them to maximize shareholder returns.
In May, the company said it aimed for its cloud unit to be listed within the next 12 months, reaffirming that plan yesterday.
Zhang joined Alibaba in 2007 and created the company’s annual Singles Day online shopping extravaganza. In 2015, he took over from cofounder Jack Ma (馬雲) as Alibaba’s CEO, and succeeded him as chairman in 2019.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS