Shares of Alibaba Group rose significantly by 8.1% on Tuesday, reflecting positive momentum amid developments in the AI and tech sectors. This surge stems not only from Alibaba’s robust standing in e-commerce and digital payments but also from its prominent position in artificial intelligence (AI) within China. The company’s open-source AI model, Qwen, is recognized as one of the top performers, frequently ranking alongside or above major competitors like DeepSeek on independent scoring metrics such as Live Bench.
A key factor contributing to Alibaba’s stock performance was Nvidia’s recent announcement that it plans to resume shipping its H20 AI chips to China after navigating through an April ban. The U.S. company has indicated that it has received assurances from the White House regarding licenses for these shipments, which bode well for Alibaba and other Chinese technology firms reliant on advanced AI hardware.
Historically, following Nvidia’s April embargo on chip shipments—implemented ostensibly due to ongoing trade negotiations with China—many Chinese AI companies faced significant hurdles. However, Nvidia expressed optimism in a company blog on Monday, stating, “NVIDIA is filing applications to sell the NVIDIA H20 GPU again,” anticipating that deliveries could commence soon now that necessary licenses are expected to be granted.
This shift has lit a spark across the Chinese AI landscape, with Alibaba being at the forefront. Its Qwen model recently achieved notable recognition, ascending to the top of the Hugging Face leaderboard as the leading open-source model, solidifying its reputation within the tech community.
In addition to Qwen, Alibaba has diversified its investments into the AI domain, exemplified by its backing of the startup Moonshot, which has just unveiled its Kimi K2 AI model. Moonshot claims that Kimi K2 surpasses leading models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude in the area of software coding, and does so at a significantly lower cost.
Looking forward, while it remains uncertain how Chinese AI companies will fare against their U.S. counterparts, Alibaba’s strong position in the e-commerce sector, coupled with access to advanced AI technology, positions it favorably for sustained revenue and profit growth across its various business segments, including cloud and digital finance. This trend not only supports Alibaba’s stock valuation but also points to a promising trajectory for the firm as it navigates the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and technology.