Alibaba’s AI deal with Apple lifts Hong Kong shares by most in nearly 2 years

Name: China’s Alibaba releases new AI model, said to outperform competitors Deepseek and OpenAI’s GPT-4o
Uploaded: 2025-02-12T07:22:39.000Z
Duration: 1 min 20 s
Description: China’s Alibaba releases new AI model, said to outperform competitors Deepseek and OpenAI’s GPT-4o

The deal, which leverages Alibaba’s Qwen AI model, could boost iPhone sales in China and solidify Alibaba’s position as a leading AI player

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Alibaba’s Qwen AI model currently powers the world’s top 10 open-source large language models. Photo: Reuters

Zhang Shidongin Shanghai

Published: 3:22pm, 12 Feb 2025Updated: 4:40pm, 12 Feb 2025

Alibaba Group Holding jumped by the most in nearly two years in Hong Kong after the Chinese e-commerce giant tied up with Apple to develop artificial intelligence (AI) features for iPhones.

The stock advanced 8.5 per cent to HK$113.80 on Wednesday, its best one-day performance since March 29, 2023, when it surged 12 per cent. Its American depositary receipts added 1.3 per cent to US$112.78 in New York overnight.

The run-up came after the Post reported on Tuesday that Alibaba struck a deal with Apple to help the US company apply AI technologies to its smartphones in China through the Qwen AI model, citing sources. US tech industry publication The Information first reported the news.

Alibaba, which owns the Post, and Apple did not respond to requests for comment. While the details of the deal remain unknown, the partnership may help Apple to take on Chinese smartphone rivals such as Huawei Technologies and Oppo on the mainland where its Apple Intelligence AI capability is currently not available to iPhone users.

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China’s Alibaba releases new AI model, said to outperform competitors Deepseek and OpenAI’s GPT-4o

Alibaba’s Qwen AI model powers the world’s top 10 open-source large language models, according to collaborative machine-learning platform and community Hugging Face.