Apple With Alibaba Has Built AI Only For China

While the tech media have spent the past year mocking Apple for its perceived failure to develop competitive AI, the company was quietly partnering with China's Alibaba Group to create AI specifically for Chinese users. And, even more impressively, to become the first foreign company to gain Chinese government approval. 

Even if, as is sure to happen, the other big US tech companies rush to follow suit, the terms will be harsher - if they ever gain them - and Apple will have further secured its brand prominence and first mover advantage. This is a stunning strategic move which further roils the AI market at an already sensitive time. JL

Cris Tolomia reports in Quartz:

Apple has built its own large language model targeting the China market in collaboration with Alibaba Group. A China-specific model would give Apple greater control over the AI experience in its most competitive overseas market. Such an outcome would also position Apple as the first foreign company Beijing has cleared to deploy its own proprietary AI model in China — a significant milestone for a U.S. firm at a time of deepening trade and diplomatic friction between the two nations over AI. The planned rollout follows a regulatory process that concluded last month, when China's Cyberspace Administration registered Apple's generative AI service, clearing the way for Apple Intelligence to reach Chinese iPhones. Alibaba confirmed that its Qwen model will be integrated into  Apple Intelligence across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS for users in China. Apple was also working with Baidu to develop Apple Intelligence features for Chinese iPhone users.

Apple $AAPL +0.22% has built its own large language model targeting the China market in collaboration with Alibaba Group, according to Reuters, citing three sources close to the situation. The development signals a shift away from Apple's earlier strategy of depending on outside partners' models to deliver AI capabilities to its China devices. 

A China-specific model would give Apple greater control over the AI experience in its most competitive overseas market, according to Reuters. Such an outcome would also position Apple as the first foreign company Beijing has cleared to deploy its own proprietary AI model in China — a significant milestone for a U.S. firm at a time of deepening trade and diplomatic friction between the two nations over artificial intelligence.

Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of AI tools, is expected to launch in China in the coming months following an iOS update, according to the same people. Questions remain about how Apple's proprietary model will fit into the broader picture alongside the Chinese third-party models it is also using, and the precise technical relationship between them has not been disclosed. 

The planned rollout follows a regulatory process that concluded last month, when China's Cyberspace Administration registered Apple's generative AI service, clearing the way for Apple Intelligence to reach Chinese iPhones. Alibaba confirmed that its Qwen model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS for users in China. Apple was also working with Baidu to develop Apple Intelligence features for Chinese iPhone users.

The previous week, Apple put out a guide in Chinese detailing how eligible Mac users in mainland China could link Qwen with Siri and the Writing Tools feature. The guide has since been taken down by Apple, with no reason given.

The tie-up between Apple and Alibaba became public in February 2025, when Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai took the stage at the World Governments Summit in Dubai and revealed that Apple had selected Alibaba to power its phones in China. "They talked to a number of companies in China. In the end they chose to do business with us," Joe Tsai said at the time. The rollout was subsequently delayed as Apple worked to adapt its features to Chinese regulations. 

China remains a critical market for Apple. Analysts and observers had pointed to the lack of AI capabilities on iPhones in China as a drag on sales, with buyers increasingly turning to homegrown device makers whose handsets come with AI features already embedded.

Apple and Alibaba did not respond to requests for comment.