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Thursday Morning: Alibaba and Baidu Shares Surge on the News

Thursday began on a celebratory note for China’s technology sector. Shares of Alibaba Group BABA ... traded in Hong Kong jumped nearly 5% by the middle of the trading session, while Baidu BAIDF ... gained around 4%. The reason for this widespread optimism is simple: Apple AAPL ... has finally received the long-awaited approval from Chinese regulators to launch its artificial intelligence services in the country.

The market had been waiting for this development for months, if not longer. Apple Intelligence, the company’s flagship AI platform, is already available in the United States and several other countries but has remained unavailable in China. The delay was not caused by technical difficulties but by Beijing’s strict regulatory requirements.

Chinese law requires all generative AI services to undergo mandatory registration and review before they can be offered to the general public. For Apple, this barrier proved more difficult to overcome than it was for many other companies because the Cupertino-based technology giant wanted to use its own models and proprietary approach. However, China’s main internet regulator withheld its approval for an extended period.

Now, according to information reported by the media, Apple appears to have made concessions that satisfied all parties. AI features on iPhones in China will not operate solely using Apple’s proprietary technology. Instead, they will rely on Chinese AI models—not just one, but two—from Alibaba and Baidu.

Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu’s Technology: The Two Pillars of Apple Intelligence in China

According to Reuters sources familiar with the matter, Apple Intelligence in China will have a two-layer architecture. Its foundation will be Alibaba’s Qwen large language model, which is considered one of the most powerful and advanced AI models currently available in China.

Alibaba has officially confirmed its involvement, stating that Qwen will...