Alibaba Group Holding is set for an “explosive growth” as the Chinese e-commerce giant leverages demand for AI applications, an executive said.
This comes as China is closing the gap in AI and playing catch-up with American rivals. Alibaba is therefore looking at real-world implementation of AI services, which should also propel the tech giant ahead of the competition.
A wave of open source models buoys Alibaba
Alibaba’s cloud computing unit senior vice president Liu Weiguang said the fast-growing AI models opened new opportunities for AI applications. The top executive was speaking at a four-day Alibaba Cloud Dynamics Fair in Beijing, which started on Wednesday.
The event has attracted dozens of exhibitors who are showcasing their AI-backed products.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), one of the most popular booths at the exhibition belongs to Robam Appliances, a cooking equipment maker that captivated visitors with its AI-powered kitchen appliances.
These developments follow a spate of advancements in open-source models in China led by start-up DeepSeek. DeepSeek shocked the world with the launch of its models developed at a fraction of the cost of already established models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s Llama models.
This sparked a wave of AI adoption in China.
A popular benchmark called LMSYS reveals that a model by DeepSeek, R1, ranks closest to the leading global models built by US AI companies.
Now, Alibaba, which is also the owner of SCMP, ranks among the several Chinese tech firms that are providing the fundamental models as well as solutions to facilitate applications across various sectors.
In his speech during the event, Liu also spoke of Cotti, a Chinese coffee shop franchise that employed Alibaba’s models, including QwenVL visual model, for AI-powered store inspections that helped reduce operational costs.
Alibaba has developed 100,000 models based on Qwen
While China still falls behind the US in model capabilities, its strength lies in AI applications. But recent studies have also shown that the Asian giant is closing in on the US in the AI sector, spurred by smaller models and applications by startups like DeepSeek.
The Alibaba event exposed how the AI tech can be used in everything from eyeglasses to cars, video gaming, education, office solution,s and robotics, giving hundreds of visitors a glimpse of the future.
Liu also revealed that the Alibaba Cloud had been releasing open-source versions of its Qwen models to bolster an AI ecosystem for app developers.
During the first quarter,r Alibaba introduced 10 open-source models, which is an average of one model every week
The tech giant has over 100,000 models based on Qwen, subsequently becoming the world’s largest open-source AI ecosystem, ahead of American rivals Meta’s Llama, according to Hugging Face, reportedly the largest open-source and deep learning community.
According to SCMP, Alibaba Cloud has been widely adopted by Chinese firms eager to develop and integrate the fast-growing technology into their products.
Alibaba has been improving its investments in AI. The company recently pledged $53 billion to develop a cloud computing and AI infrastructure in the next three years as it seeks to tap the growth opportunities in the industry.
During the Beijing event, a manufacturer of ergonomic chairs touted a tourist featuring Alibaba’s Tongyi model.
The AI chair launched last year and the chair includes voice interactions and health management functions. A Beijing-based white-caller worker in the internet services, Kuang Ying, revealed the features that enticed her to upgrade from traditional chairs.
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