Alibaba Cloud Shifts AI Market with Aggressive Pricing Strategy
Alibaba Cloud has taken a significant step in democratizing access to artificial intelligence (AI) technology by announcing an unprecedented 85% reduction in pricing for its large language models. This move, which positions the company’s flagship Qwen-VL-Max model at just 0.003 yuan ($0.00041) per thousand tokens, is expected to have a profound impact on the competitive AI landscape.
This drastic price cut comes as Alibaba Cloud continues to push the boundaries of AI innovation. The company has already made significant strides in this area, with recent partnerships and pricing reductions demonstrating its commitment to making high-quality AI technology accessible to a wider range of users.
One notable example of this is Alibaba’s partnership with Transsion, a top Chinese smartphone vendor in Africa. The collaboration will see the Tongyi Qianwen model powering the GenAI features of the Phantom V Fold2, a flagship Android 5G smartphone from Tecno’s brand. This on-device GenAI service utilizes an AI button that enables users to conduct multiple rounds of AI conversations and quickly summarize documents and phone call messages.
In addition to this partnership, Alibaba Cloud has also announced a price cut for its large language model assess for the third time since February 2024. The latest reduction, which is over 80% across the board, follows previous cuts in February and September 2024. These price reductions have made high-quality AI technology more affordable and accessible to users worldwide.
With these aggressive pricing strategies, Alibaba Cloud is well-positioned to drive the democratization of AI technology and further accelerate its growth as a leader in the cloud computing market. As the company continues to innovate and expand its offerings, it’s clear that AI will play an increasingly important role in shaping its future success.
Alibaba Pours Fuel into AI Competition with Price Cuts and Enhanced Security
In a move that signals a new phase of competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, Alibaba has slashed prices on its large language models by up to 85%, making them more accessible to businesses and organizations worldwide. This announcement, made by Alibaba Cloud, the tech giant’s cloud computing arm, is seen as a bold step towards solidifying its position in the AI market.
The price cuts apply to Alibaba’s Qwen-VL model, a visual language model designed to process both text and images, enabling users to analyze and understand complex data more efficiently. This move is particularly significant given the ongoing rivalry between Chinese and Western AI companies.
Meanwhile, Alibaba Cloud has also introduced enhanced security features for hybrid, multi-cloud environments, addressing the growing complexity of managing diverse cloud platforms. The updated Cloud Security Center now includes a Cloud Security Posture Management tool, which offers over 700 detection items and 100 one-click remediation options to mitigate risks and ensure compliance across multiple cloud platforms.
The global data centre market continues to grow rapidly, driven by increasing demand for AI and cloud computing services. According to recent reports, public cloud providers and AI companies are driving strong demand for North American data centres, which benefit from the infrastructure’s reduced hardware costs and increased scalability.
Overall, Alibaba’s price cuts and enhanced security features demonstrate its commitment to providing innovative solutions in the AI sector, while also addressing the growing needs of businesses and organizations worldwide.
Alibaba Cloud Continues to Dominate with Innovations in AI, Security, and Pricing
In a series of recent announcements, Alibaba Cloud has solidified its position as a leader in the cloud computing industry. The company’s arm, Alibaba Cloud, has been recognized by Gartner as an Emerging Leader in all four quadrants evaluated in the latest “Innovation Guide for Generative AI Technologies” report.
This recognition is part of a pilot initiative launched by Gartner to visualize generative AI vendors and represent their capabilities in a dynamic market. Alibaba Cloud’s emergence as an Emerging Leader marks a significant milestone for the company, demonstrating its commitment to innovation and staying ahead of the curve in emerging technologies like AI.
In another development, Alibaba Cloud has announced a major price reduction for its large-scale visual understanding models, including the Tongyi Qianwen model. The entire line of models has seen a reduction of over 80% following two previous reductions in May and September 2024. This move is attributed to the optimization of Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure and model structure, as well as the scale effect.
The company has also introduced new security features to simplify the management of complex multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. Alibaba Cloud’s Security Center now includes a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool, which helps organizations monitor and maintain compliance across multiple cloud platforms. This update aims to address growing cybersecurity challenges as more organizations adopt diverse cloud infrastructures.
These announcements demonstrate Alibaba Cloud’s ongoing efforts to enhance its offerings in AI, security, and pricing. With continued innovation and growth, the company remains a major player in the cloud computing industry.
“Alibaba Cloud and Black Sesame Announce Deep Partnership for AI Development”
Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd. (Alibaba Cloud) has formed an in-depth partnership with Black Sesame Technologies Co., Ltd. (Black Sesame), a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
According to the announcement, Alibaba Cloud’s large Qwen models with 1.5 billion and 3 billion parameters have been integrated into Black Sesame’s Wudang C1200 chip family. This partnership aims to accelerate AI development by providing smooth and efficient computing capabilities for various applications.
The collaboration is expected to benefit from the strengths of both partners, enabling seamless integration of Alibaba Cloud’s AI models with Black Sesame’s cutting-edge hardware design. The partnership also underscores Alibaba Cloud’s growing commitment to delivering innovative solutions for AI and machine learning (ML) applications.
Black Sesame’s Wudang C1200 chip family is designed to provide high-performance computing capabilities for AI-intensive workloads, such as natural language processing, computer vision, and predictive analytics. With this partnership, Black Sesame aims to expand its product portfolio and cater to the growing demand for AI-driven solutions in various industries.
The exact terms of the partnership were not disclosed, but the collaboration is expected to drive innovation in the AI sector and benefit from the combined expertise of both companies.
References
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2. South China Morning Post. (2025, January 8). Alibaba powers AI drive of Transsion, top Chinese smartphone vendor in Africa. https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3293897/alibaba-powers-ai-drive-transsion-top-chinese-smartphone-vendor-africa
3. Technode. (2025, January 2). Alibaba Cloud slashes price of LLM assess for third time since February 2024. https://technode.com/2025/01/02/alibaba-cloud-slashes-price-of-llm-assess-for-third-time-since-february-2024/
4. The Africa Logistics. (2025, January 2). Alibaba Slashes Prices on Large Language Models by Up to 85%: A Bold Move in the AI Race. https://theafricalogistics.com/alibaba-slashes-prices-on-large-language-models-by-up-to-85-a-bold-move-in-the-ai-race/
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6. Data Centre Magazine. (2025, January 8). Top 10: Cloud Platforms in the Data Centre Sector. https://datacentremagazine.com/top10/top-10-cloud-platforms-in-the-data-centre-sector
7. Alizila. (2025, January 2). Alibaba Cloud recognized as an Emerging Leader in the Gartner “Emerging Market Quadrants”. https://www.alizila.com/alibaba-cloud-recognized-as-an-emerging-leader-in-the-gartner-emerging-market-quadrants/
8. Pandaily. (2025, January 2). Alibaba Cloud: Tongyi Qianwen Visual Understanding Model Reduced by 80%. https://pandaily.com/alibaba-cloud-tongyi-qianwen-visual-understanding-model-reduced-by-80/
9. Backend News. (2025, January 7). Alibaba Cloud boosts unified security for multi-cloud setups. https://backendnews.net/alibaba-cloud-boosts-unified-security-for-multi-cloud-setups/
10. MarkLines. (2025, January 6). Alibaba Cloud, Black Sesame forge in-depth partnership. https://www.marklines.com/en/news/319865
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