Bloomberg News reports that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has shuttered its quantum computing lab for research. This signals that the e-commerce Chinese giant and cloud operator intends to make further cutbacks to boost the shutdown.
Alibaba plans to donate its equipment to Hangzhou’s Zhejiang University, located in the city where the company is situated. A company spokesperson revealed this information. The closure will lead to the job cuts of 30 employees, and Alibaba says that it will help them to look for positions in the same college.
Amidst an Overhaul
The e-commerce leader is amidst an overhaul. Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu are spearheading the same. They are confidantes of the co-founder, Jack Ma. In the present month, the two have announced that they plan to list the division of cloud services aside from the fact that they were killing a much-apprehended spinoff.
Just before the announcement about the shutdown of the cloud service lab was announced, the company was on the brink of a 6-way split that would disintegrate the company into several business components ranging from commerce businesses to logistics and entertainment.
The duo, Wu and Tsai, decided to revamp the cloud division only last week. This division has been bleeding the shares of the market competitors. There were three new appointments of executives that would head major business lines with Alibaba Cloud. The two would report directly to Wu, the Chief Executive Officer.
The DAMO Academy
Bloomberg News reports that the DAMO Academy, inaugurated by Ma in 2017 with much pomp and show, was expected to be Alibaba’s so-called “moonshot” department. This department would research and deliver cutting-edge technologies.
The academy has researched disparate areas like robots, semiconductors, and metaverse.
The Chinese laboratories were first reported to have the lab shut down. To fix a ceiling on expenses, workforce of Alibaba underwent a downsizing of its workforce in 2022. More than 30,000 employees have been laid off in the last quarters.
