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Huawei and Alibaba have joined a consortium led by Intel, along with other leading global technology companies, in announcing a new interconnect protocol Compute Express Link (CXL).

The step shows the growing global influence of Chinese technology companies and their increasing engagement in international cooperation to create next-generation standards, a Chinese expert said. 

Apart from Huawei, other US-based technology giants such as Google and Facebook have joined the new protocol consortium, according to a statement released by Intel on Monday. 

According to the statement, CXL is designed as an open interconnect technology that aims to improve the performance of CPUs and especially  boost accelerators and CPU bandwidths. Neither Huawei nor Alibaba had responded to the Global Times' interview request as of press time. 

The cooperation between US and Chinese technology giants comes at a time when the two countries' political relations are tense, particularly as the US is mounting efforts to ban Huawei not only in the US but also lobbying its European allies to do so.

Experts have said that such information technology cooperation between Chinese and US companies won't be affected by political tensions, as both countries are working toward solving their contradictions. 

"Now both the US and China have the inclination to mitigate their trade disputes, and therefore such private business cooperation between Chinese and US companies won't be affected," domestic telecom expert Xiang Ligang told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

He also noted that as such cooperation is helpful to the establishment of a unified industrial standard that will benefit all parties, there is great room for such cooperation in the long run.

Han Xiaomin, consultant from Beijing-based CCID Consulting Co, also said that the new protocol can potentially prompt large-scale innovation and advance the ecosystem, and the Chinese companies' participation is a sign of integration and business cooperation between China and the US.

"There are currently several protocols in the ecosystem, some of which were developed by different consortiums," Han said. 

"Chinese companies, especially Huawei, have been very active in the development and application of protocols, which shows their increasing engagement in international cooperation in the industry, and also the industry's recognition of their technology and experience."

Han said that companies in the CXL protocol consortiums have different competitive edges and can contribute experience from varying perspectives, and Chinese companies are most likely to be valued for their experience in cloud computing.

"Cloud computing is a rapidly growing technology and has a fast-expanding market in North America," Han said. "While companies such as Dell can offer expertise and experience in hardware technology, Chinese companies such as Huawei and Alibaba may have valuable insights from their experience in cloud computing."

But experts warned that challenges will emerge as this type of interconnect protocol cooperation deepens. 

"The US and China need to adopt a more open attitude toward each other for such cooperation to carry on," Xiang told the Global Times.