Alibaba: $430 Million to Promote Qwen

On February 2, 2026, Alibaba announced the launch of an aggressive campaign to promote its Qwen AI. The campaign budget during the Lunar New Year will be 3 billion yuan (~$431 million).

This is an episode of the "subsidy war" in the Chinese internet. Alibaba aims to convert holiday traffic into a user base, competing with Tencent and Baidu. The bet is on integrating AI into everyday scenarios: from greetings to shopping. In China, AI is becoming a mass consumer product faster than anywhere else.

Source: Reuters / Alibaba