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Alibaba says modular design delivers AI data centres in 100 days at 10% lower cost

With CUBE 5.0, Alibaba Cloud expects to more than double modular data centre delivery efficiency this year amid AI boom, report says

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Alibaba is stepping up its data centre push globally as part of its US$56.3 billion AI capital expenditure commitment set out last year. Photo: dpa
Ann Caoin Shanghai
As demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure surges, Alibaba Group Holding says it can deliver new data centres in a fraction of the usual time while cutting construction costs by 10 per cent through its proprietary modular architecture.

Using CUBE 5.0, Alibaba Cloud had slashed the delivery time for large-scale AI data centres to just 100 days, according to a report by state-backed newspaper China Securities Journal on Tuesday.

That compared with standard domestic delivery times of six to 12 months, and 12 to 18 months in the US, the report said.

Alibaba Cloud, the AI and cloud computing services unit of Alibaba, also expected to more than double its production efficiency this year, measured by the volume of modular data centres delivered within a given time frame, it added.

Unveiled in 2024, CUBE 5.0 increased the overall modularity rate across five key systems – power supply, cooling, security, intelligent management and fire protection – from 30 per cent to 90 per cent in its latest iteration, according to the report.

Unlike traditional construction, where power, cooling and IT systems are installed sequentially on-site, prefabricated modular data centres split infrastructure into separate components that are manufactured simultaneously in factories. These components are then shipped in container-like units and assembled on-site like building blocks.

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