TECH

Alibaba AI App Crashes After 3 Billion Yuan Giveaway Sparks Frenzy

Published: Feb. 7, 2026 3:16 a.m. GMT+8

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Delivery drivers line up outside a milk-tea shop to pick up orders in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Feb. 6, 2026. Photo: VCG

The launch of a massive giveaway by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s artificial-intelligence chatbot app, Qwen, triggered a surge in downloads that overwhelmed its systems, causing service disruptions and frustrating a wave of new users.

On Friday, the app rolled out the first phase of its 3 billion yuan ($430 million) “Chinese New Year Treat Plan,” offering a 25 yuan voucher for a free milk tea to anyone who updated the app or invited a new user. The promotion — valid at more than 300,000 beverage shops nationwide, including chains such as Heytea, Nayuki’s Tea and Luckin — quickly pushed Qwen to the top of the free-app rankings on Apple’s China App Store.

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Alibaba’s Qwen AI app launched a 3 billion yuan ($430 million) giveaway, causing 10 million orders in nine hours and system crashes.
The promotion, offering milk tea vouchers, topped China’s App Store but faced technical issues and WeChat link blocks.
Competing Chinese tech firms, Tencent and Baidu, also launched large-scale AI app giveaways; Alibaba’s HK shares fell 2.88% after the event.

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Who’s Who

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. launched a 3 billion yuan "Chinese New Year Treat Plan" for its AI chatbot app, Qwen, offering free milk tea vouchers. This promotion caused Qwen's systems to crash due to overwhelming demand, but also pushed it to the top of Apple's China App Store. The company is using this strategy to rapidly build a user base for its AI platform and broader e-commerce ecosystem.

Heytea: Heytea is a Chinese tea chain that participated in Alibaba's Qwen AI chatbot app's "Chinese New Year Treat Plan." This promotion offered a 25 yuan voucher for a free milk tea, contributing to a surge in Qwen app downloads and orders. The overwhelming demand caused delays and system crashes for both the app and participating tea shops like Heytea.

Nayuki's Tea: Nayuki's Tea is a prominent beverage shop chain in China. It was one of over 300,000 establishments nationwide that participated in Alibaba's Qwen AI chatbot app's "Chinese New Year Treat Plan." This promotion offered users a 25 yuan voucher for free milk tea, contributing to a massive surge in orders and app downloads.

Luckin: Luckin is one of the beverage chains included in Alibaba's Qwen app promotion. The app offered vouchers for free milk tea, usable at over 300,000 nationwide shops, including Luckin. This promotion led to a surge in orders, overwhelming Qwen's systems and causing disruptions.

Tencent Holdings Ltd.: Tencent Holdings Ltd. operates WeChat, a ubiquitous messaging app in China. WeChat blocked sharing links related to Alibaba's Qwen giveaway, citing rules against content-sharing inducements. Tencent also launched its own AI app, Yuanbao, which offered a 1 billion yuan giveaway, but similarly restricted its own links on WeChat.

Baidu Inc.: Baidu Inc.'s Ernie Bot initiated a 500 million yuan promotional campaign on January 26th. This is part of a broader trend among Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba and Tencent, to invest billions in promotions for their generative AI applications ahead of the Lunar New Year, aiming to attract new users in a highly competitive market.

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