Alibaba acquires Chinese chipmaker C-SKY Microsystems

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has acquired Chinese chip maker Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems to underpin its cloud-based "internet of things" (IoT) business, an Alibaba spokeswoman said on Friday.

"Alibaba aims to empower different industries through our cloud-based IoT solutions, in which chips play a significant role. The acquisition of Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems, a leading Chinese supplier of embedded CPU cores, underlines our commitment to driving the development of the chip industry," the spokeswoman said in a statement, referring to central processing units.

Alibaba did not disclose the terms of the acquisition.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch)