Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) is taking its AI ambitions onto the global stage, rolling out Qwen-powered tools for the 2026 Winter Olympics. At the same time, it is racing to stabilize its consumer AI app after traffic surges triggered by a $420 million Lunar New Year giveaway,
Qwen Heads To The Olympics
Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba’s cloud computing and AI unit, unveiled a suite of AI tools for the Milano Cortina Winter Games, marking the first time an LLM will be embedded into the Olympics’ digital infrastructure.
The cloud unit announced the partnership on Wednesday with Olympic Broadcasting Services and the International Olympic Committee.
It said its Qwen model will power “Olympic AI Assistants” built for fans and IOC operations, SCMP reported on Wednesday.
Alibaba Cloud said it will also use its technology to enhance real-time replay capabilities and upgrade cloud-based broadcasting systems.
Jack Ma Checks In
Back in China, Alibaba has been ramping up promotion of Qwen as competition intensifies for consumer AI entry points.
Jack Ma. founder of Alibaba, visited the Qwen project office ahead of the company’s Lunar New Year cash-incentive push, Yicai Global reported on Thursday.
Alibaba formed the Qwen C-end Business Group last December by merging its intelligent information and intelligent interconnection divisions.
Led by Vice President Wu Jia, it oversees products including Qwen and the AI-driven consumer “super-workbench” Quark.
Alibaba positioned the Lunar New Year campaign around driving adoption and usage.
It announced $420 million of cash incentives on Feb. 3 to boost downloads and usage of Qwen’s AI shopping features over the holiday.
Alibaba has also embedded Qwen across its ecosystem so users can complete tasks like ordering food, booking flights, shopping, streaming content, and getting travel guidance with a single command.
The company revamped its AI chatbot in November, relaunching it as Qwen and upgrading it with the newest version of its in-house large language models. The company said the app topped 100 million monthly active users in just two months.
Alibaba is also speeding up its AI infrastructure push by developing its own high-end chip to cut dependence on Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) as U.S. export restrictions tighten.
Its chip unit, T-Head, shared details on the Zhenwu 810E parallel-processing processor, which it says offers performance comparable to Nvidia’s China-focused H20 chip.
Demand Surges, Systems Buckle
The campaign’s early demand wave strained Alibaba’s infrastructure. Many users reported they couldn’t access the campaign entry page after the cash incentives launched due to a system crash.
“We are urgently increasing resources to ensure the smooth operation of the system,” an Alibaba official told Yicai on Friday.
Alibaba’s push is unfolding as other tech giants, including Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), ramp up their own holiday AI promotions.
BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were up 1.85% at $160.68 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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