Alibaba (9988.HK) announced on Wednesday a wide-ranging push into artificial intelligence (AI), unveiling a partnership with Nvidia, a global data centre expansion plan, and new AI products, as it seeks to make artificial intelligence a core business priority alongside its e-commerce operations.
The news sent its Hong Kong-listed shares soaring nearly 10% to a four-year high, with U.S.-listed shares (BABA.N) also jumping almost 10% in pre-market trading, as investors welcomed the company’s AI drive amid intensifying competition from domestic rivals such as DeepSeek and Tencent (0700.HK).
Speaking at the annual Apsara Conference, Alibaba’s chief executive Eddie Wu said, “The speed of AI industry development has far exceeded our expectations, and the industry’s demand for AI infrastructure has also far exceeded our expectations.”
He added that the company would step up spending, though without disclosing figures. Earlier this year, Alibaba pledged 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) in AI infrastructure over three years.
Nvidia partnership and global data centres
At the conference, Alibaba revealed plans to work with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) on physical AI capabilities including data synthesis, model training, environmental simulation and validation testing.
It also announced that its first data centres in Brazil, France and the Netherlands will open soon, with further facilities planned for Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Dubai over the next year. This will add to its existing network of 91 data centres across 29 regions worldwide. The company did not say if the new sites would use Nvidia chips.
According to Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at Omdia, “Alibaba’s 2025 Apsara Conference demonstrated strong results from years of AI investment. The overseas data centre investments will help expand Alibaba’s influence among international AI developers and enterprise users.”
The expansion follows Nvidia’s recent announcement of a deal to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and provide it with data centre chips.
New AI models and products
Alibaba also introduced its most advanced AI language model yet, the Qwen3-Max, which has more than one trillion parametres. Chief technology officer Zhou Jingren said the model excels in code generation and autonomous agent capabilities, meaning it requires fewer human prompts than systems such as ChatGPT and can independently pursue user-defined goals.
On benchmarks such as Tau2-Bench, Alibaba claimed Qwen3-Max outperformed competitors including Anthropic’s Claude and DeepSeek-V3.1 in several categories. The Qwen3 series was first released in April.
Other launches included Qwen3-Omni, a multimodal system for immersive experiences in virtual and augmented reality, designed for applications such as smart glasses and intelligent vehicle cockpits.
Cloud business momentum
Alibaba’s pivot towards AI has already delivered results. Last month, the company reported strong quarterly earnings driven by its cloud business, where revenue rose 26%, underscoring its progress in turning AI into a major growth engine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in high-level talks in Berlin from December 14 to 15, 2025, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, U.S...
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” after talks in Berlin, stressing that decisions on...
Türkiye aims to increase its trade with Turkic states to $60 billion in the medium term and $100 billion in the long term, President Recep Tayyip Erd...
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he will sign an executive order classifying fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” as par...
Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, says it struck a Russian Kilo‑class submarine in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, causing critica...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in high-level talks in Berlin from December 14 to 15, 2025, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, U.S. envoys, and European leaders, focusing on security guarantees and the framework for a potential peace deal with Russia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” after talks in Berlin, stressing that decisions on Ukraine’s future and territorial issues must be taken by Kyiv itself.
Türkiye aims to increase its trade with Turkic states to $60 billion in the medium term and $100 billion in the long term, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he will sign an executive order classifying fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” as part of his ongoing campaign against drug smuggling.
Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, has said that Ukraine has not provided Moscow with a list of thousands of children it alleges were taken illegally to Russia, despite the issue being discussed during talks in Istanbul.
An explosive device found in a vehicle linked to one of the alleged attackers in Bondi shooting has been secured and removed according to Police. The incident left 12 people dead.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has offered condolences to President Donald Trump following an ISIS attack near the ancient city of Palmyra that killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter, Syrian and U.S. officials said Sunday.
At least 17 people, including students, were killed and 20 others injured after a school bus fell off a cliff in northern Colombia on Sunday, authorities said.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has warned that without concrete concessions from Russia, such as limiting its military forces or curbing its defence budget, new conflicts could erupt elsewhere, even if Ukraine receives security guarantees.
Iran has rolled out changes to how fuel is priced at the pump. The move is aimed at managing demand without triggering public anger.
U.S. stock markets closed lower at the end of the week, as investors continued to rotate out of technology shares, putting pressure on major indices.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.50% to 3.75% following its two-day policy meeting, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday, 10 December.
China has carried out a major test of a new “super wireless” rail convoy, a technology that could reshape the future of heavy-haul transport.
Paramount Skydance (PSKY.O) has launched a $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O). The escalation follows a high-stakes battle that had appeared to end last week when Netflix secured a $72 billion deal for the studio giant’s assets.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment