Tech Brief (March 25): Xiaomi Logs First Quarterly Profit Drop Since 2022

Published: Mar. 25, 2026 12:08 p.m. GMT+8

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Alibaba’s Qwen launches AI ride-hailing feature to rival Didi

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen rolled out a ride-hailing feature on Monday, intensifying competition with market leader Didi to integrate generative AI into daily transport services. Users can now book rides, select vehicle types, schedule trips, and pay directly within the Qwen app. The service is powered by Alibaba’s mapping platform Amap. This upgrades an earlier integration introduced in December, which generated visual decision cards but required users to open the separate Amap application to complete a booking. Didi launched its own AI assistant, Xiaodi, within its main app last week after initiating public testing in September.

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Alibaba’s AI chatbot Qwen launched a ride-hailing feature, directly competing with Didi by integrating booking and payment within its app.
Xiaomi’s Q4 2025 adjusted net profit dropped 23.7% to 6.3 billion yuan, its first decline since 2022, while annual revenue grew 25% to 457.3 billion yuan.
China’s daily AI token usage exceeded 140 trillion in March 2026, with China Telecom increasing AI computing investment despite cutting overall capital expenditure.

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Who’s Who

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s AI chatbot Qwen has launched a new ride-hailing feature, directly competing with Didi. This functionality, powered by Alibaba's Amap mapping platform, allows users to book, schedule, and pay for rides within the Qwen app, upgrading a previous integration that required using the separate Amap application for booking completion.

Didi: Didi is a market leader in ride-hailing services. The company recently launched its own AI assistant called Xiaodi within its main app to integrate generative AI into daily transport services. This move intensified competition with Alibaba's Qwen, which also rolled out a rival ride-hailing feature.

Xiaomi Corp.: Xiaomi Corp. experienced its first quarterly profit drop since late 2022, with a 23.7% decline in adjusted net profit to 6.3 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2025. Despite this, its full-year 2025 revenue grew by 25%. The company predicts inevitable price hikes for its smartphones due to surging memory prices.

China Telecom Co. Ltd.: China Telecom Co. Ltd. plans to strategically increase its spending on AI computing power by 26% in 2026, despite an overall 9.2% reduction in capital expenditure. This shift reflects a pivot towards AI infrastructure, which will comprise 35% of its total capital expenditure, while traditional network spending will decrease by 26%.

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What Happened When

End of 2022：: Before this date, Xiaomi had not seen a quarterly profit drop.

Early 2024：: China's daily AI token usage was less than 140 billion, more than 1000 times lower than in March 2026.

2025：: China Telecom's capital expenditure was 80.4 billion yuan; network spending accounted for 51%, and computing power spending for 25%.

September 2025：: Didi initiated public testing of its AI assistant, Xiaodi.

Fourth quarter of 2025：: Xiaomi reported a 23.7% year-on-year decline in adjusted net profit, experiencing its first quarterly profit drop since end of 2022.

2025 (full year)：: Xiaomi's revenue grew 25% to 457.3 billion yuan, and adjusted net profit surged 43.8% to 39.2 billion yuan.

December 2025：: Alibaba's Qwen introduced an integration that generated visual decision cards for ride hailing but required using the separate Amap application to book.

End of 2025：: China's daily AI token usage reached 100 trillion.

Week of March 16, 2026：: Didi launched its AI assistant, Xiaodi, within its main app.

Monday, March 23, 2026：: Alibaba's Qwen rolled out an in-app AI ride-hailing feature.

As of March 2026：: China's daily AI token usage surpassed 140 trillion.

Tuesday, March 24, 2026：: China's National Data Administration head Liu Liehong provided AI token usage statistics at a press conference; China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen announced a capital expenditure cut and boost to AI computing power spending for 2026 at an earnings briefing.

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