Alibaba has unveiled a sweeping set of artificial intelligence initiatives, signaling that the Chinese e-commerce giant is making AI a central pillar of its future strategy.
The company discloses the moves at its annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, where executives highlighted a new partnership with Nvidia (NVDA), plans for global data center expansion, and the release of a trillion-parameter large language model – the Qwen3-Max, reports Reuters.
Shares in Alibaba surged nearly 10% in Hong Kong, hitting a four-year high, as investors welcomed the shift. US-listed shares (BABA) also climbed in premarket trading, underscoring the financial weight of the announcements.
Says Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu,
“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.”
Wu confirms that the company will increase spending, though he did not specify amounts. Earlier this year, Alibaba said it would invest 380 billion yuan (about $53 billion) over three years into AI-related infrastructure.
As part of the initiative, Alibaba teams up with Nvidia to develop “physical AI” capabilities, spanning model training, data synthesis, environmental simulation, and validation testing. The company did not disclose whether Nvidia chips will power its upcoming data centers.
Alibaba also reveals plans to open new facilities in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands, with additional sites in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Dubai over the next 12 months. The expansion builds on its existing network of 91 data centers across 29 regions worldwide.
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