Hao Chen (陈浩)

I obtained my Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2021, guided by Professors Yinlong Xu and Cheng Li. During my Ph.D. studies, I interned at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) as a research assistant from 2019 to 2020, mentored by Xiaosong Ma.

Currently, I’m part of the PolarDB MySQL Department at Alibaba Cloud, focusing on the development and research of next-generation cloud-native databases. My research interests encompass cloud-native databases, RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access), and CXL, with a particular focus on their evolving advancements and practical applications. I am also expanding my research interests toward AI infrastructure, with a focus on scalable model serving, KV cache management, and efficient resource utilization. I am keenly interested in exploring innovative partnerships and research opportunities in this field.

Research Intern Openings: We are looking for research interns interested in AI-native data systems and AI infrastructure. Potential topics include vector databases, agent memory systems, KV cache management, RDMA/CXL-based disaggregated memory systems, and efficient LLM inference serving. If chasing down bottlenecks in large-scale cloud and AI infrastructure sounds like fun, we would be happy to hear from you.

Feel free to reach out via email: cighao@gmail.com.

Awards

  • SIGMOD 2025 Industry Track Best Paper Award (Corresponding Author)
  • SIGMOD 2024 Industry Track Best Paper Award (Corresponding Author)
  • ICDE 2024 Best Industry and Application Paper Award (Corresponding Author)

Experience

Alibaba Cloud, Jul 2021 - Present

Research and development of next-generation cloud-native databases and AI infrastructure.

  • KVCache for LLM Serving [PVLDB'26]
  • Cloud-Native Database Architecture: PolarDB Multi-Primary [SIGMOD'24 Best Paper], PolarDB Serverless [ICDE'24 Best Paper]
  • Distributed Database Systems: PolarDB Strongly Consistent Reads [PVLDB'23], PolarDB Limitless [PVLDB'25], Geo-Replication [PVLDB'24]
  • Memory-Centric Database Systems: Persistent Memory [ASPLOS'23], CXL Memory Pool [SIGMOD'25 Best Paper], CXL-based Locking [TC'26], AP Memory Pool [SIGMOD'26]
Qatar Computing Research Institute, Apr 2019 - Jan 2021

Ph.D. Research Intern.

  • SpanDB: Hybrid-Storage KV Store [FAST'21]
  • QarSUMO: Parallel Traffic Simulator [SIGSPATIAL'20]

Publications

2026 PVLDB

PolarKV: Tier Locally, Serve Globally—A KV Cache over Cloud Memory and Storage

Yingqiang Zhang, Xinjun Yang, Hao Chen, Feifei Li, Shuwen Wang, Chuan Sun, Sai Wu, Ninglong Weng. ( corresponding author)

Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment (PVLDB). 2026. To appear.

2026 SIGMOD

LakeMem: An Elastic Disaggregated-Memory Caching Layer for Analytical Processing Systems

Xinyi Yu, Yingqiang Zhang, Hao Chen, Zhaoxiang Huang, Xinjun Yang, Feifei Li, Chuan Sun, Jing Geng, Jiong Xie, Ninglong Weng, Yiming Zhang. ( corresponding authors)

Proceedings of the 2026 International Conference on Management of Data (SIGMOD). 2026. [PDF]