Chinese technology heavyweights Alibaba and Baidu saw their Hong Kong-listed shares jump significantly on Thursday, propelled by the news of their respective artificial intelligence (AI) collaborations with Apple. The partnerships signal a major step for Apple's AI deployment in the crucial Chinese market and underscore the escalating technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
Alibaba's stock climbed 5% after the company officially confirmed that its advanced Qwen AI model would be seamlessly integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS for users in mainland China. This announcement had already provided a slight boost to Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares overnight, as an Alibaba spokesperson shared details with CNBC.
The Apple-Qwen integration promises to empower users with enhanced AI capabilities, such as sophisticated text and image understanding and generation, eliminating the need to switch between various applications and tools.
Alibaba HK shares
Meanwhile, Baidu's Hong Kong-listed shares also recorded a notable 4% gain. The tech giant confirmed its active collaboration with Apple to develop and deploy Apple Intelligence features specifically tailored for iPhones within China. This positive market reaction follows recent reports from late June suggesting that Baidu’s AI chip unit, Kunlunxin, is eyeing a substantial initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, potentially valuing the affiliate at an impressive $50 billion.
Chinese tech company Baidu, best known for its search engine, also operates cloud, mapping and other internet-based services.
Credit: Bloomberg | Getty Images
A crucial development underpinning these partnerships is the recent regulatory green light from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). In a notice published on Wednesday, the CAC included Apple Intelligence among a list of approved smartphone-based AI services, which also featured offerings from Huawei Technologies and six other providers. Apple has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding these developments.
The broader context for these collaborations is the escalating technological arms race between China and the United States, as both nations intensely vie for global AI dominance. The U.S. has actively sought to restrict China's access to advanced high-end chips, while Beijing has, in turn, implemented measures to limit U.S. investments in its domestic tech companies. As a RAND research report highlights, "AI leadership is becoming central to economic competitiveness, global standard-setting, and the maintenance of democratic governance," underscoring the geopolitical stakes involved.
Baidu HK shares
— With contributions from Evelyn Cheng, Joseph Wilkins, and Kai Nicol-Schwarz.
