TECH

Alibaba Bets Big on ‘AI + Cloud’ With New Models, Nvidia Deal

Published: Sep. 25, 2025 2:37 a.m. GMT+8

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Alibaba Cloud chief technology officer Zhou Jingren speaks at the company’s 2025 Apsara Conference on Sept. 24, 2025.

Alibaba Cloud unveiled a sweeping lineup of artificial intelligence products and global expansion plans Wednesday, sparking a sharp rally in its parent company’s shares.

At the company’s annual Apsara Conference, Zhou Jingren, chief technology officer of Alibaba Cloud, announced seven new large AI models, upgrades to its AI development platform and infrastructure, and a partnership with Nvidia to power so-called “Physical AI.”

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Alibaba Cloud announced seven new AI models, infrastructure upgrades, and a partnership with Nvidia at its annual Apsara Conference, causing Alibaba shares to surge over 9%.
The flagship Qwen3-Max model surpasses GPT-5 on the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, and new cloud regions will launch in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands.
Alibaba pledged 380 billion yuan ($52.9 billion) investment in AI and cloud over three years, with AI computing power growing fivefold in the past year.

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Who’s Who

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s shares surged following Alibaba Cloud's unveiling of new AI products and global expansion plans. The company's stock rose 9.2% in Hong Kong and 8.87% in premarket trading in the U.S. They've partnered with Nvidia on "Physical AI" and launched seven new AI models, including the flagship Qwen3-Max. Alibaba plans to invest 380 billion yuan ($52.9 billion) over three years in AI and cloud infrastructure.

Alibaba Cloud: Alibaba Cloud recently unveiled new AI products and global expansion plans. It announced seven new large AI models, upgrades to its AI development platform, and a partnership with Nvidia for "Physical AI." The company is heavily investing in AI infrastructure, with computing power increasing fivefold and storage capacity quadrupling in the last year. It also announced new cloud regions in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands.

Nvidia: Nvidia, referred to as "英伟达" in Chinese, is partnering with Alibaba Cloud to power "Physical AI." This collaboration integrates Nvidia's Physical AI software into Alibaba's AI platform. This will provide enterprise clients with services ranging from data processing and simulation to robot training and testing.

Tencent Holdings Ltd.: Tencent Holdings Ltd. is referenced as a direct competitor to Alibaba in the "AI + cloud" model. The article does not provide further details about Tencent Holdings Ltd.

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What Happened When

2025-09-24：: Alibaba Cloud unveiled a lineup of artificial intelligence products and global expansion plans.

2025-09-24：: At the Apsara Conference, Alibaba Cloud CTO Zhou Jingren announced seven new large AI models, upgrades to the AI platform and infrastructure, and a partnership with Nvidia.

2025-09-24：: Alibaba Group shares closed up 9.2% in Hong Kong, while U.S.-listed shares jumped 8.87% in premarket trading.

Earlier in 2025：: Alibaba Cloud added eight new AI and cloud data centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Dubai, and Mexico.

In 2025：: Alibaba introduced upgrades to its AI agent development platform Bailian and a new framework called Model Studio-ADK.

In 2025：: Alibaba emphasized heavy investment in AI infrastructure. AI computing power grew fivefold and storage capacity fourfold compared to the previous year.

In 2025：: New hardware unveiled including the Panjiu 128 super-node AI server and HPN8.0 high-performance network.

In 2025：: Alibaba announced a global infrastructure expansion, adding new cloud regions in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands, and expanding facilities in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Dubai.

Starting from 2025：: Alibaba's CEO Wu Yongming pledged to invest 380 billion yuan ($52.9 billion) over three years into AI and cloud infrastructure.