--- title: "Alibaba Establishes \"Token Factory\" to Accelerate \"Shovel-Making\" Efforts" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/289121340.md" description: "Top leadership oversees the battle" datetime: "2026-06-09T01:47:32.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/289121340.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/289121340.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/289121340.md) --- # Alibaba Establishes "Token Factory" to Accelerate "Shovel-Making" Efforts Alibaba’s “shovel-making” plan is gathering momentum and accelerating once again. In March this year, Alibaba established the ATH Business Group to further consolidate its AI-to-Consumer (AIToC) businesses. Three months later, on June 8, Alibaba made another move, announcing the merger of the Tongyi Large Model Division and the Future Life Laboratory to establish the new TokenFoundry Division. Meanwhile, Zhou Jingren, a key figure in the Tongyi series, was promoted to Alibaba’s Chief Scientist to lead the establishment of the Alibaba AI Future Research Institute. Alibaba Vice President Zheng Bo, along with the HappyHorse and HappyOyster business lines, was fully integrated into the new TokenFoundry. The new TokenFoundry Division falls under the ATH Business Group. After the restructuring, ATH is divided into six parts. Among them, the newly established TokenFoundry Division is led by Group CEO Eddie Wu. It comprises the Tongyi Large Model Division and the Future Life Laboratory. The MaaS (Model-as-a-Service) business line is responsible for building an efficient and open model service platform and technical system to support the AI ecosystem across all industries. The Qianwen Division, led by Group Vice President Wu Jia, focuses on the consumer end as Alibaba’s AI entry point. The Wukong Division, led by Wuzhao, aims to create an AI-native work platform for the business end. The Innovation Division consists of multiple super-unit teams engaged in frontier exploration, innovative applications, and new project incubation. The AI Future Research Institute is led by Vice President Zhou Jingren. Returning to the newly established TokenFoundry, its name alone reveals Alibaba’s intention to accelerate its “shovel-making” efforts. To understand the rationale behind this structural adjustment, we must first look back at the internal “530” Token Campaign. In April this year, Alibaba set a new internal target: by the end of May, Alibaba’s Token revenue must reach five times the level of early April, and thirty times by the end of the year. The supporting incentive mechanism was also robust, featuring high commissions, cross-departmental resource mobilization, and end-to-end integration of sales and solution lines. Driven by bonuses and pressure, the five-fold target was successfully achieved half a month ahead of schedule. Although the initial battle was won, Alibaba’s pressure has not diminished. A source close to Alibaba’s clients revealed to Wall Street Insight that after the all-in effort in May, the token sales growth in June required new momentum. The subsequent incremental growth depends on Qwen-3.7-Max. In fact, just three weeks ago, Alibaba specifically refined Qwen-3.7-Max for Agents, achieving significant breakthroughs in core capabilities such as programming, agents, and reasoning, with performance approaching that of GPT, Claude, and Gemini. In the financial report for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (January 1, 2026 – March 31, 2026), the AI business was disclosed separately for the first time, having moved past the pure investment phase and entered the cycle of commercial returns. The capital market also provided quite positive feedback. From any single-point metric, Alibaba’s AI is on an upward trajectory. However, Alibaba is not the only player in this race. In the Agent era, players are vying for a share of the token cake. By the end of March this year, the daily average token call volume for the Doubao large model exceeded 120 trillion, doubling within a month. Volcano Engine achieved ten times its annual token revenue target within a single quarter. Doubao holds Douyin, a national-level C-end entry point. The AI transformation of the entire short-video industry is almost impossible to bypass. Sales teams from Volcano Engine, holding tickets to the Douyin ecosystem, indeed have a sense of “easy victory” when negotiating with clients. Therefore, Alibaba needs to accelerate the refinement of its model’s product capabilities to capture market share more quickly. A person familiar with Alibaba stated to Wall Street Insight, “This change amounts to further streamlining the model business, making it more focused and prioritized.” He further explained, “The previous ‘Happy’ series models were exploratory in nature, but in the long run, they will definitely evolve into productivity tools.” In April this year, Eddie Wu mentioned at an internal all-hands meeting of Alibaba Cloud that the team must be more aggressive than startups in undergoing transformation. Alibaba Cloud’s task this year is to reconstruct infrastructure for Agents, aiming to become the best AI training factory and AI inference factory. The current round of structural adjustments is essentially the implementation of the plan mapped out two months ago. Alongside the organizational restructuring, Alibaba Cloud has also adjusted its expectations for its own performance growth. Over the next five years, the compound annual growth rate of Alibaba Cloud’s external revenue is expected to exceed 40%. If achieved, this would return the company to the high-growth period seen before 2021. Therefore, Alibaba’s “shovel-selling” battle allows for no failure. The greatest curiosity outside regarding TokenFoundry is likely whether this division can complete the 30-fold growth curve by the end of the year. Inferring from public data, a 30-fold increase means Alibaba’s monthly token revenue must rise from a certain base in early April to a level equivalent to 120 times on an annualized basis. Thus, Eddie Wu’s personal involvement in leading this new division demonstrates the status and importance of TokenFoundry. In Alibaba’s recent organizational adjustments, businesses directly managed by the CEO often share two characteristics: high strategic weight and complex organizational coordination. TokenFoundry clearly fits both criteria. It requires coordination across cloud, models, chips, sales, ecosystems, research institutes, and other lines. It is difficult for any vice president-level executive to achieve frictionless internal resource allocation. Eddie Wu’s personal involvement is equivalent to granting this division a “high-priority” pass. This approach is not unfamiliar in Alibaba’s history. In the past, cloud computing was elevated to be directly managed by Daniel Zhang, and DingTalk was incorporated into the Cloud Intelligence Group. Behind these moves lay the same logic: at critical moments in core sectors, the acceleration button must be pressed by someone capable of mobilizing resources across the entire group. The Agent era is approaching at a speed faster than everyone expected. As the gap in model capabilities gradually narrows, the focus of competition will rapidly shift to “who can make models run effectively in real-world business scenarios.” Players like Alibaba, capable of integrating cloud, models, chips, and ecosystems, are few and far between in China. However, under the tight pursuit of competitors, Alibaba needs to accelerate the construction of its own token ecosystem to secure its advantage in the endgame. ### Related Stocks - [BABA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABA.US.md) - [09988.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09988.HK.md) - [BABO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABO.US.md) - [BABU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABU.US.md) - [BABW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABW.US.md) - [BBYY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BBYY.US.md) - [BABX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BABX.US.md) - [KBAB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/KBAB.US.md) - [89988.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/89988.HK.md) - [HBBD.SG](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HBBD.SG.md) ## Related News & Research - [09:10 ETAlibaba's Amap Unveils ABot-Earth0.5 3D Native World Model for City-Scale Modeling](https://longbridge.com/en/news/289061340.md) - [BUZZ-WuXi Apptec falls to over 2-month low as US adds company in Chinese military-linked list](https://longbridge.com/en/news/289125284.md) - [Manulife Deepens AI Push Through Alibaba Cloud Partnership](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288402944.md) - [How Investors Are Reacting To Helmerich & Payne (HP) Dividend, Asset Sale and Caspian Contract Renewal](https://longbridge.com/en/news/289198382.md) - [loanDepot Hosts South Florida Community Organizations at Miami Marlins Games Throughout 2026 Season | LDI Stock News](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288752905.md)