Alibaba is intensifying its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure through innovative initiatives, transforming the technology sector.
The Chinese technology company disclosed plans to establish eight new data centres worldwide this year.
The initial triumvirate of facilities will be in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands, with facilities in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Dubai.
This global expansion is designed to meet soaring demand for AI services and edge the company closer to rivals like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
AI infrastructure expansion boosts Alibaba’s reach
Alibaba Cloud currently operates 91 availability zones across 29 regions, but sees the need to grow fast. CEO Eddie Wu told the Apsara Conference 2025, “The speed of AI industry development has far exceeded our expectations, and the industry’s demand for AI infrastructure has also far exceeded our expectations.”
This expansion effort aligns with a hefty ¥380 billion ($53.4 billion) investment targeting AI infrastructure and technology over three years.
The data centres will boost cloud capacity and serve Alibaba’s push into AI research and applications across sectors like retail, automotive, and smart devices.
“Our strategic expansion of global infrastructure is designed to cater for the accelerating demand from forward-thinking customers,” said Dr Feifei Li, President of International Business at Alibaba Cloud.
New regional centres in Indonesia and Germany will also provide multilingual 24/7 support to clients around the globe.
Alibaba unveils Qwen3-Max, a milestone AI model
In addition to infrastructure, Alibaba demonstrated its AI capabilities by introducing Qwen3-Max, the company’s most extensive AI language model to date, which contains over one trillion parameters.
Parameters influence an AI’s intelligence; Alibaba’s achievement of crossing a trillion positions places it in the elite tier, comparable to the advancements made by OpenAI and Google.
The model is adept at performing intricate tasks such as code generation and autonomous agent functions, necessitating fewer human inputs to operate autonomously.
Zhou Jingren, Alibaba Cloud’s Chief Technology Officer, said, “Qwen3-Max displayed particular strength in tasks that typically require continuous prompts.”
Independent tests show it outperforms similar models, including Anthropic’s Claude, in various benchmarks. Alibaba also showcased Qwen3-Omni, a multimodal system for immersive AI experiences in smart glasses and vehicles.
The new partnership with Nvidia facilitates the development of physical AI capabilities, such as data synthesis and model training, in support of this AI drive. Together, the actions indicate Alibaba’s intention to challenge the dominance of Western technology and redefine AI on a global scale.
Alibaba’s 2025 moves prove the company is pivoting from its e-commerce roots to lead a new era of AI-powered cloud services worldwide.