Alibaba Group's (NYSE:BABA) Hong Kong-listed shares were up 2.5% after chairman Joe Tsai confirmed the e-commerce giant will partner with Apple on artificial intelligence for iPhones sold in China.
Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Tsai said Apple chose Alibaba’s AI technology after evaluating multiple Chinese firms.
Apple has struggled in China, with iPhone sales dropping 17% in 2024 due to rising competition from Huawei and Vivo.
Analysts say Apple’s lack of advanced AI features has been a major weakness in the market.
The company recently launched Qwen 2.5, an upgraded AI model that outperformed key rivals in performance and cost.
In late trading in Hong Kong, the stock was up 2.80HKD at 116.6HKD, having been ahead 9% earlier in the session. Year-to-date, the stock has advanced 43%.