Alibaba Stock Jumps on AI Chatbot Success. Why Qwen Is Such a Big Deal.

Alibaba has made an aggressive pivot to AI with plans to invest more than $50 billion. (Dreamstime)

Key Points

• Alibaba’s Qwen AI chatbot achieved over 10 million downloads in its first week of public beta, becoming one of the fastest-growing AI applications.
• Alibaba’s American Depositary Receipts increased by 4.5% to $159.84 in early trading following the successful Qwen rollout.
• The company plans to integrate core lifestyle and productivity services, such as digital maps and e-commerce, into the Qwen App.

Alibaba stock was tearing higher early Monday after the Chinese tech giant revealed the successful rollout of its relaunched artificial intelligence chatbot.

The company said its app Qwen had become “one of the fastest-growing AI applications to date,” notching more than 10 million downloads within the first week of its public beta launch. Qwen is now in the top three of Apple’s App Store in China, the company said.

Alibaba’s American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs—essentially the company’s U.S.-listed stock—jumped 4.5% to $159.84 in early trading Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index and S&P 500 were up 1.5% and 0.8%.

More than 10 million downloads in its debut week puts the app’s early growth above that of rivals like ChatGPT or DeepSeek, according to a tally by the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.

The latest insight into consumer-driven AI demand—and not just speculation—could help ease broader fears of an AI bubble, which has been a contributing factor to recent stock market volatility.

Alibaba’s Qwen downloads represent a significant data point for consumers’ continued desire for AI applications—a read across that may be important for others in the AI space like Nvidia , Microsoft , and Alphabet .

“The launch marked Alibaba’s most significant step yet into the consumer AI market, aiming to transform its cutting-edge foundational AI model capabilities into real-life applications and tools,” Alibaba said in a statement.

Alibaba, which Barron’s recommended in December last year, is one of the titans of the Chinese tech sector. With a core business in online retail and cloud computing, the company has made a significant pivot to AI, including announcing plans to invest some $53 billion into the technology in the next three years.

While a significant amount of Alibaba’s AI investments have been infrastructure, it has also pushed into the consumer AI space with Qwen.

“Moving forward, Alibaba plans to deeply integrate core lifestyle and productivity services—including digital maps, food delivery, travel booking, office tools, e-commerce, education, and health guidance—directly into the Qwen App,” the company said.

Alibaba stock is up 80% so far this year and 2025 has seen the shares trade at their highest levels since early 2021, when the stock was in the midst of early crushing declines amid a regulatory crackdown. The company is poised to report quarterly financial results on Tuesday.

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