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.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that $5 billion pledged by member states of the Gaza Peace Council will be directed tow...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to highlight his outreach to Black Americans during a White House reception marking Black History Mont...
Hungary and Slovakia announced a suspension of diesel exports to Ukraine on Wednesday....
Two Palestinians were killed on the first day of Ramadan after Israeli forces opened fire in the Gaza Strip, according to local sources and hospital o...
Aghdam’s Qarabag experienced a 6–1 defeat to England’s Newcastle United in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie....
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to highlight his outreach to Black Americans during a White House reception marking Black History Month, held months before November’s midterm elections.
Two Palestinians were killed on the first day of Ramadan after Israeli forces opened fire in the Gaza Strip, according to local sources and hospital officials.
Aghdam’s Qarabag experienced a 6–1 defeat to England’s Newcastle United in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie.
A platoon of Swedish Air Force Rangers is training in Greenland as part of the ongoing “Arctic Endurance” exercise, according to Sweden’s military.
Ruben Vardanyan has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Baku Military Court after being found guilty of a series of offences including war crimes, terrorism and crimes against humanity.
The drumbeats have finally faded at the Marquês de Sapucaí, bringing the competitive phase of the Rio Carnival 2026 to a dazzling close. Over two marathon nights of spectacle, the twelve elite schools of the "Special Group" transformed the Sambadrome into a riot of colour.
President Donald Trump said he will be involved “indirectly” in nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran in Geneva, as both sides resume diplomacy against a backdrop of military pressure and deep mistrust.
Peru’s Congress has voted to censure and remove José Enrique Jeri Ore from his posts as President of Congress and acting President of the Republic, just four months into his tenure, citing undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen and alleged hiring irregularities.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 17th of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Millions of Colombian roses have arrived in the United States just in time for Valentine’s Day, keeping the country on track as the world’s second-largest flower exporter. Between 15 January and 9 February, Colombia shipped roughly 65,000 tons of fresh-cut blooms.
Russia’s car market is continuing to receive tens of thousands of foreign-brand vehicles via China despite sanctions imposed after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a journalistic investigation has found.
Türkiye’s national energy company, TPAO, has struck a new cooperation deal with U.S. energy giant Chevron, signing a memorandum of understanding to explore joint oil and gas exploration and production opportunities, the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry announced on Thursday.
Wall Street ended sharply lower on Tuesday as investors worried about artificial intelligence (AI) creating more competition for software makers, keeping them on edge ahead of quarterly reports from Alphabet and Amazon later this week.
U.S. stock markets finished mixed on Wednesday (28 January) as investors reacted calmly after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, a decision that had been widely expected and largely priced in.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment