After Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. launched artificial intelligence features in China, its share price soared by as much as 8.6%. It closed at 112.78 overnight, approaching the recent high of 117.82 set on October 7, 2024.
The technology media outlet, citing an unnamed source, said that Apple and Alibaba have submitted their artificial intelligence functions for approval to China’s internet regulatory authorities. Following this, the company’s share price rose by the largest margin since September. Baidu, long seen as a rival, fell nearly 3% in Hong Kong.
Securing an AI position on the iPhone would mark a breakthrough for Alibaba, whose latest model performed well in global benchmark tests. Alibaba’s share price rose by more than 30% in 2025, driven by optimism about the company’s progress in developing AI services and platforms for the world’s largest internet market. Representatives from Alibaba and Baidu did not respond to requests for comment.
Alibaba can offer Apple a powerful local partner, and as rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. are vigorously launching AI smartphones, Apple is striving to revitalize its sales in the Chinese market.
Morgan Stanley analyst Eric Woodlin wrote: “Alibaba is China’s largest e-commerce company and thus should have a vast amount of data. Apple could leverage this data to offer personalized GenAI features to Chinese consumers.” “We can also envision a scenario where Apple establishes an initial AI partnership with Alibaba and eventually expands to other local Chinese cloud computing companies over time.”
After signing a landmark agreement with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, the iPhone manufacturer has yet to announce its long-term partner for AI products in China.
Chinese regulators require companies to obtain approval before launching generative AI services, and so far, no major U.S. services company has received Chinese approval.
In January, Alibaba released benchmark results showing that its Qwen 2.5 Max version scored higher than Meta Platforms Inc on a number of tests. The Llama and DeepSeek V3 models. The company is now seen as a leader in artificial intelligence, on par with big players such as Tencent Holdings LTD and ByteDance LTD, as well as startups such as Minimax and Zhipu.
According to The Information, Alibaba’s AI partnership with Apple in China could allow Alibaba to tap into a more affluent base of iPhone users for higher fees, which could drive cloud computing revenue growth faster than expected, up 11 percent annually starting in fiscal 2026.
