Hot on the heels of DeepSeek shaking up the AI game, another Chinese ChatGPT rival has stepped into the limelight. Tech giant Alibaba released its Qwen 2.5-Max AI model on Wednesday, claiming its the fastest on the block.
Throw in other recent contenders like Kimi and MiniMax, and one thing’s clear: China’s well and truly crashed the AI party.
This buzz is giving a solid boost to Chinese stocks listed in the US, while Shanghai hits the pause button for the Lunar New Year holiday. Alibaba’s ADRs have been the star of the show, jumping 7.7% this week.
In a WeChat announcement, Alibaba boasted that its generative AI model, trained on more than 20 trillion tokens, outperformed its heavyweight peers — GPT, DeepSeek-V3 and Llama-3.1-405B — on some key industry metrics.
The market’s reaction suggests investors are all in on Alibaba’s AI journey. Sure, it’s still too early to know whether Qwen will truly challenge ChatGPT, but there’s plenty more to get excited about when it comes to Alibaba.
Even with its recent stock leap, Alibaba is a bargain in the tech and e-commerce world. The stock is lounging at a staggering 63% discount compared to the Nasdaq 100 Index, which is home to everyone from Nvidia to Palantir.
Crowded house
That said, the competition is no joke. DeepSeek, the new star in the AI galaxy, is drawing eyes with its efficient, cheaper models. Meanwhile, ByteDance and Baidu are also making bold moves in AI, ensuring Alibaba has plenty of competition nipping at its heels.
But Alibaba’s not just another face in the crowd. Its stronghold in e-commerce and cloud computing, paired with an ambitious AI roadmap, makes it a standout player in the tech investment arena. The Chinese giant’s commitment to open-source development and diverse applications — from coding to managing smart cities — gives it an edge over rivals with a narrower focus.
For investors looking to break out of the traditional Big Tech mold, Alibaba presents a compelling case. And Qwen 2.5-Max might prove to be a game-changer for the Chinese giant, which has so far been struggling to gain attention amid the Big Tech rush.
Edited by Tim Hume. If you have any tips, ideas or feedback, please get in touch: talk-to-us@moniify.com
