Alibaba Unifies AI Brand, Goes All-In On 'Qwen'

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is consolidating its AI efforts under a single brand while expanding its tools and infrastructure to strengthen its position in the fast-growing artificial intelligence market. Alibaba Unifies AI Models Under “Qwen” Brand The Chinese e-commerce juggernaut unified its large model brand under the name “Qwen.” The company will use “千问大模型” as the Chinese brand name and “Qwen” in English, while Tongyi Lab will remain the organizational name of its AI research unit. Alibaba said the Qwen portfolio includes foundation models and domain-specific models, and the Qwen app serves as its flagship consumer-facing AI application, Technode reported on Monday. Earlier this year, Alibaba open-sourced Qwen 3.5 and later released several smaller Qwen 3.5 models. During the Lunar New Year period, users placed nearly 200 million “one-sentence” orders through the Qwen app, according to Alibaba. Cloud Unit Launches Low-Cost AI Coding Tool Alibaba is stepping up its AI push as it works to unlock more value from the fast-growing sector. The company’s cloud unit introduced a new AI-powered coding platform that gives developers low-cost access to several leading Chinese AI models. The platform runs on open-source systems, including Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5 and models from Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax, and lets users switch between models under one subscription. Alibaba priced the lite version at 7.9 yuan ($1.15) for the first month and 40 yuan after that. The pro version costs 39.9 yuan for the first month and 200 yuan thereafter, according to Bloomberg. Alibaba Unveils In-House AI Chip Alibaba also rolled out a high-end, self-developed AI chip as U.S. export restrictions limit China’s access to advanced Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) semiconductors. Its chip unit, T-Head, introduced the Zhenwu 810E, an application-specific chip built for AI training and inference. Alibaba said the chip delivers performance broadly comparable to Nvidia’s H20 processor for China and can handle the heavy data demands of generative AI. Alibaba Cloud has deployed the Zhenwu 810E in multiple 10,000-card clusters, and more than 400 customers — including State Grid, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and XPeng — use the chip. The company optimized the chip to train and run its Qwen large language models. Alibaba stock extended its losses on Monday, akin to its U.S. Big Tech counterparts. BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were down 2.57% at $140.40 on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Image by jackpress via Shutterstock