Hangzhou

Alibaba’s large language model tops global ranking of AI developer platform Hugging Face

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Alibaba’s large language model tops global ranking of AI developer platform Hugging Face

Three of the four top 10-ranked Chinese LLMs were from the Tongyi Qianwen series, also known as Qwen, developed by e-commerce and cloud computing giant Alibaba, according to AI and machine-learning developer platform Hugging Face, which released its updated leaderboard with new metrics on Wednesday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Hangzhou-based Alibaba’s Qwen-72B-Instruct … Read more

Alibaba denies talks to sell Lazada’s Thailand unit as it eyes continued global expansion

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Alibaba denies talks to sell Lazada’s Thailand unit as it eyes continued global expansion

Southeast Asian online shopping giant Lazada Group has refuted a report that parent company Alibaba Group Holding is planning to sell its Thailand unit, as China’s largest e-commerce conglomerate eyes overseas expansion amid a domestic economic slowdown. “Lazada Group is not considering any divestment of our business in Thailand and is not in discussion with … Read more

Apple limiting AI to priciest iPhones generates less excitement in China

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Apple limiting AI to priciest iPhones generates less excitement in China

The US tech giant on Monday unveiled its long-awaited AI blueprint during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, charting out plans to bake a range of related functions into iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. The new functionality includes text generation, photo editing and call transcription. The company has also teamed with Microsoft-backed OpenAI to use ChatGPT … Read more

Alibaba shows strong momentum during 618 shopping festival, as chairman Joe Tsai eyes return to double-digit revenue growth

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Alibaba shows strong momentum during 618 shopping festival, as chairman Joe Tsai eyes return to double-digit revenue growth

About 185 brands – including major smartphone vendors Apple, Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies – have each achieved more than 100 million yuan (US$13.8 million) in gross merchandise value, while 37,000 other brands doubled sales year on year as of 9pm on May 31, the latest data released by Alibaba e-commerce unit Taobao and Tmall Group … Read more

Alibaba invests US$27 million in education start-up to expand its generative AI portfolio amid price war in China

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Alibaba invests US million in education start-up to expand its generative AI portfolio amid price war in China

Alibaba Group Holding has invested around 200 million yuan (US$27.6 million) in artificial intelligence (AI) education start-up Zhejiang Jingzhunxue, as the Chinese e-commerce giant continues to bet heavily on the AI sector. Hangzhou-based Jingzhunxue said on Wednesday that it received backing from Alibaba to support the development and promotion of the start-up’s AI-powered education device, … Read more

Alibaba sells stake in e-commerce branding services firm Baozun for US$21.8 million as part of corporate restructuring

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Alibaba sells stake in e-commerce branding services firm Baozun for US.8 million as part of corporate restructuring

Hangzhou-based Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, on Thursday signed a deal to sell 26.5 million Baozun shares to Champion Kerry for US$21.8 million, according to Baozun’s latest regulatory filing. Those shares represent about 14.4 per cent of the total outstanding shares of Baozun as of March 31 this year. That transaction followed … Read more

Alibaba e-commerce unit’s latest executive reshuffle sees veterans retire as younger leaders take over

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Alibaba e-commerce unit’s latest executive reshuffle sees veterans retire as younger leaders take over

Senior executives that include Wang Hai, Liu Peng, Yu Feng and Wang Mingqiang retired from Taobao and Tmall Group on May 1, according to Chinese media reports on Wednesday. Taobao and Tmall Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Alibaba Group Holding chief executive Eddie Wu Yongming last December took … Read more

Tencent’s DnF Mobile rises as new runaway hit for video gaming giant, surpassing Honour of Kings’ daily revenue on debut

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Tencent’s DnF Mobile rises as new runaway hit for video gaming giant, surpassing Honour of Kings’ daily revenue on debut

The mobile version of Dungeon & Fighter Online, the personal computer (PC) game developed by Nexon subsidiary Neople, on May 22 outstripped the daily revenue of those two high-performing Tencent games on the China App Store in just the second day of its domestic release, according to data from Chinese app analytics platform Qimai. DnF … Read more

Alibaba’s US$4.5 billion convertible bond sale ‘oversubscribed’, as tech giant builds war chest to fund share buy-backs

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Alibaba’s US.5 billion convertible bond sale ‘oversubscribed’, as tech giant builds war chest to fund share buy-backs

Alibaba Group Holding is selling up to US$5 billion worth of convertible bonds to fund its share buy-backs, as leaders of the Chinese tech giant declared e-commerce and cloud computing as its core businesses in a move “towards strategic clarity”. The Hangzhou-based firm, which owns the South China Morning Post, said it expects to raise … Read more

NetEase unveils updates on more than 10 new video games, led by highly-anticipated ‘triple-A’ title Where Winds Meet

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NetEase unveils updates on more than 10 new video games, led by highly-anticipated ‘triple-A’ title Where Winds Meet

NetEase, China’s second-largest video gaming company, has unveiled updates on more than 10 new titles, including a highly-anticipated “triple-A game” to be released in July, at its annual product launch this week amid heightened competition in the domestic market. At the online event from its headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, NetEase featured … Read more