Alibaba Links Taobao Shopping to Qwen AI App, Advancing Push Into Consumer AI Services

Alibaba Takes Major Step to Link Taobao Shopping to Main AI App

Alibaba launched Qwen in November as a major step into consumer-facing AI services, and plans to build it into an all-around personal assistant by gradually integrating individual services under the Alibaba umbrella. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to link its flagship online shopping and travel services to its AI app, taking its biggest step yet to build Qwen into its one-stop artificial intelligence platform for consumers. China's online retail leader aims to connect Taobao, Alipay, travel service Fliggy and Amap to the Qwen app starting Thursday. The idea is to eventually help Qwen's 100 million users shop, book travel and pay for services via a single platform with the help of AI. The newly integrated functions are now available for public testing in China. The ambitious undertaking underscores how companies from Amazon.com Inc. to Meta Platforms Inc. are exploring agentic AI, where artificial intelligence helps people perform actual tasks. Companies like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd., which already operate "super apps" with hundreds of different services, are considered to have an initial advantage in that sphere. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg may send me offers and promotions. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Alibaba, which also operates a Netflix-like streaming service and one of China's biggest meal delivery platforms, launched Qwen in November as a major step into consumer-facing AI services. It plans to build Qwen into an all-around personal assistant by gradually integrating individual services under the Alibaba umbrella. The company also launched an invite-only "task assistant" feature designed to conduct more complicated tasks, such as making phone calls to restaurants or building web applications. In doing so, it's seeking to answer global concerns about the money-making potential of AI. Investors are worried in particular about the hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into Nvidia-powered data centers around the world, given persistent uncertainty about demand for AI services in future. Alibaba's shares fellBloomberg Terminal as much as 3.5% in Hong Kong, after rising nearly 20% over the past four trading days. "This dip is simply profit-taking, a textbook 'sell the fact' after the rally, not a verdict on Qwen app's latest update," said Steven Leung, executive director at UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong. Read more about China's AI ambitions Alibaba Preps Big Revamp of Flagship AI App to Rival ChatGPT China's DeepSeek Preps AI Agent for End-2025 to Rival OpenAI Jack Ma Returns With a Vengeance to 'Make Alibaba Great Again' Alibaba's AI Arm Surges 34% Though Big Spending Hits Profit Alibaba is emphasizing the extent of its ambition by hooking Qwen up with Taobao: the service that launched the company into e-commerce decades ago and remains its main Chinese shopping showcase. On Thursday, executives demonstrated how the new Qwen features work. They walked through tasks such as ordering milk tea deliveries from a local store, buying a suitable robot vacuum cleaner for a home with a cat, and booking flights and hotels for a family vacation trip to Hainan. Initial tests showed that the app was able to perform basic tasks such as recommending a non-sugary tea, and users can directly pay for food delivery within the app. But it couldn't for instance generate product links when responding to a prompt to buy a hiking sweater, suggesting Qwen has yet to fully integrate all shopping categories. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Alibaba's move to wire its suite of e-commerce, navigation and travel apps into Qwen highlights why peers such as Meituan and JD.com have expanded into quick commerce, food deliveries and logistics: agentic shopping requires a full execution stack, not standalone retail. Amazon, Google OpenAI and Microsoft are also making similar pushes toward agentic shopping and checkout flows. We believe Alibaba can drive this new form of engagement at lower incremental investment than these Chinese and global tech peers. - Catherine Lim and Jason Zhu, analysts Click hereBloomberg Terminal for the research. "AI is evolving from intelligence to agency," said Wu Jia, an Alibaba vice president. "What we are launching today represents a shift from models that understand to systems that act -- deeply connected to real-world services." Alibaba has been among the most aggressive investors in and advocates for AI since DeepSeek fired up the local tech industry. Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu has pledged more than $53 billion toward infrastructure and AI development -- an outlay he's said the company could surpass over time. While US apps like OpenAI's ChatGPT are not available in China, Alibaba faces stiff competition from domestic rivals including ByteDance Ltd.'s Doubao, by some measures the most popular with about 172 million monthly active users as of the end of September, according to QuestMobile. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Alibaba is set to extend its lead over Tencent and Baidu as China's leading supplier of open-source AI models, as downloads on its Qwen family exceeded 700 million on Hugging Face in early January, according to AIBase. However, Alibaba is unlikely to profit meaningfully from this success given its effective subsidization of China's national AI rollout. Quarterly adjusted Ebita in Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence business rose by just $132 million during the 12 months through September 2025. - Robert Lea and Jasmine Lyu, analysts Click hereBloomberg Terminal for the research. Still, investors have largely endorsed Alibaba's broader endeavors in AI, judging by the stock. The shares have more than doubled since the start of 2025. Alibaba's ability to control costs around consumer services while investing in cloud operations is something investors will monitor over the longer term.

What Is Going On With Alibaba Stock On Thursday? - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Integrates Qwen AI With Alipay, Taobao To Create Ultimate Super-Assistant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is ramping up its consumer AI ambitions as it works to turn its chatbot into a central hub for everyday digital services. Alibaba Pushes Qwen Toward a One-Stop AI Assistant Alibaba is accelerating its push into consumer-facing artificial intelligence by deeply integrating its Qwen AI app with the company's core services. It aims to turn the chatbot into a single entry point for shopping, travel, payments, and everyday tasks. The Chinese e-commerce juggernaut plans to link Taobao, Alipay, travel platform Fliggy, and mapping service Amap directly to Qwen, marking its most ambitious step yet to position the app as a one-stop AI assistant. The integration, which has entered public testing in China, allows Qwen's more than 100 million users to complete tasks such as ordering food, booking trips, and making payments without switching between multiple apps, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. For now, full in-app transactions are supported mainly for food delivery, with broader shopping categories still being integrated. Early Use Cases Show Promise, With Limits At a launch event in Hangzhou, Alibaba executives demonstrated Qwen completing real-world tasks, including recommending a robot vacuum cleaner and booking flights, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Early tests showed the app could handle basic recommendations and payments, though it still struggled with some functions, such as generating direct product links for certain shopping requests. Alibaba introduced Qwen in November as a major move into consumer AI and has steadily expanded its capabilities. The company has also rolled out an invite-only "task assistant" that can perform more complex actions, such as making phone calls or processing large volumes of documents. Open-Source Strategy And Long-Term AI Bet Alibaba aims to weave its multiple consumer services -- including e-commerce, travel, payments, streaming, and food delivery -- into a unified AI-driven experience. Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu has pledged more than $53 billion toward infrastructure and AI development, an amount he has said could rise over time. While Alibaba's open-source Qwen models have gained traction -- downloads exceeded 700 million on Hugging Face in early January -- Bloomberg Intelligence cautioned that near-term profitability from AI may remain limited, particularly in the cloud business. Alibaba stock gained over 106% in the last 12 months, driven by its cloud unit endeavours and a favourable domestic regulatory regime. The company is moving to unlock more value from its AI strategy by doubling down on open-source development as adoption of its Qwen models accelerates and investor confidence in its long-term AI position improves. BABA Price Action: Alibaba Gr Hldgs shares were down 0.33% at $169.34 during premarket trading on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo by Poetra.RH via Shutterstock BABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$169.35-0.32%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Why Alibaba's Open-Source AI Strategy Is Winning Big - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is stepping up its artificial intelligence strategy as open-source adoption accelerates and Wall Street grows more confident in the company's long-term AI positioning. The company is leaning harder into open-source AI as adoption of its Qwen models surges and analysts re-rate the stock. The Chinese e-commerce juggernaut said Tuesday that "a defining feature" of its 2025 AI approach was "its commitment to openness," arguing that open-source software helps developers and companies build faster and at lower cost. Qwen Adoption Hits Major Milestone The comments followed Monday's jump in Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares after its Qwen model family surpassed 700 million downloads on Hugging Face, making Qwen the most widely adopted open-source AI system, SCMP reported on Tuesday. The report also pointed to industry validation for the company's approach, including a Stanford report saying Chinese open-source models have caught up or even moved ahead of U.S. peers in capability and adoption, and it highlighted Nvidia Corp.'s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Cosmos-Reason1-7B as an example of a model post-trained on Qwen2.5-VL-7B-Instruct. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has adopted Alibaba's open-source Qwen models as part of its effort to rebuild its AI stack. Cloud Investment Fuels Stock Rally Alibaba stock climbed about 14% over the past week after the company sharply increased its capital expenditure budget for Alibaba Cloud, Futunn reported. Analysts said the stepped-up investment could drive profitability resilience beyond current forecasts. The rally builds on a powerful longer-term run, with Alibaba stock up roughly 104% over the past 12 months, fueled by growing investor confidence in the company's AI initiatives and a more supportive regulatory environment in China. Domestically, Alibaba formed the Qwen Consumer Business Group to bring its chatbot, AI assistants, cloud tools, and AI hardware under one platform. Analyst Commentary Highlights Cloud Growth Charlene Liu, HSBC's Asia-Pacific head of internet and gaming research, said in a Friday research note that Alibaba's cloud business is positioned to sustain revenue growth as long as demand tied to artificial intelligence remains strong. Alibaba Group chairman Joe Tsai reiterated the company's monetisation logic for open-source AI models at a November event in Hong Kong, stressing that the group does not generate revenue directly from AI itself. "We run a cloud computing business," Tsai said. "When you run models, you need to have cloud infrastructure... If people are running AI and they happen to want to use Alibaba Cloud, we have a whole suite of products from storage to data management to security to networking to containers." BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were up 3.64% at $173.09 during premarket trading on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo by VTT Studio via Shutterstock BABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$172.853.50%OverviewMETAMeta Platforms Inc$626.31-0.76%NVDANVIDIA Corp$184.41-0.75%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Alibaba shares rise after report shows gains in China AI cloud market By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) shares gained 3.1% in U.S. premarket trading following reports highlighting the company's growing dominance in China's AI cloud market and strategic positioning of its Qwen app ecosystem. According to LatePost today, Alibaba Cloud has captured approximately 35.8% of China's AI cloud market share in the first half of 2025, exceeding the combined market share of its second, third, and fourth-ranked competitors. The company's AI Cloud revenue reached RMB22.3 billion during this period, positioning it as the clear market leader. Chinese tech giant announced that its Qwen app will hold press conference tomorrow. The app is emerging as a comprehensive AI agent offering various services beyond simple Q&A functionality, including price comparisons in Taobao, navigation through Amap, and integration with other Alibaba services. "We expect a number of BABA's applications such as Taobao, Figgy, Taobao Instant Commerce, and Alipay to be integrated with Qwen app. Users can experience a variety of different services under different scenarios," Jefferies analyst Thomas Chong wrote in a note. Qwen is offered for free, unlike competitors such as ChatGPT, and delivers extensive services that leverage synergies within the Alibaba ecosystem. Based on Jefferies estimates, industry revenue growth is 149% YoY and Alibaba captures 40% market share in 2025, while Alibaba Cloud plans to capture 80% of incremental industry revenue growth in 2026. "If we assume industry growth can maintain at high double-digit or triple-digit YoY growth in 2026, we expect BABA continues to maintain strong YoY growth momentum at triple digit with market share to reach about 60% this year," Chong added. According to industry research firm Omdia, China's AI revenue is projected to increase by 149% YoY from RMB20.83 billion in 2024 to RMB51.8 billion in 2025, suggesting significant growth potential in the sector where Alibaba is establishing leadership.