Alibaba dismisses $1b DeepSeek investment rumors

Alibaba has denied rumors that it plans to invest US$1 billion for a 10% stake in AI platform DeepSeek, which briefly pushed its US stock up nearly 7% in pre-market trading on Feb. 7.

Alibaba Vice President, Yan Qiao, dismissed the speculation, stating that while the company admires DeepSeek, the investment rumors are false.

DeepSeek has gained attention for its partnerships with Alibaba AI Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure, as well as its integration into Lenovo’s ecosystem.

While refuting the DeepSeek rumors, Alibaba has previously invested in AI startups like Baichuan AI, Zhipu AI, and Moonshot AI, and recently launched its Qwen2.5-Max model.

Recent Alibaba developments

Timeline
07-Feb-2025 🤖 Alibaba appoints AI expert Steven Hoi as VP Steven Hoi appointed VP for Alibaba’s AI team. Focus on enhancing consumer-facing AI applications.
04-Feb-2025 🖥️ Alibaba Cloud integrates DeepSeek’s open-source AI models Alibaba Cloud adds DeepSeek’s AI models Open-source LLMs for businesses, no coding needed
30-Jan-2025 🤖 Alibaba launches AI model claimed to outperform DeepSeek Alibaba launches Qwen 2.5-Max AI model. DeepSeek sparks price war among tech giants.
21-Jan-2025 🌐 Alibaba Cloud unveils new AI models, tools for developers Alibaba Cloud launches new AI models and tools. Introduces GenAI program to support developers globally.
12-Jan-2025 💻 Alibaba Cloud launches AI tool for faster app development Alibaba Cloud launches AI coding tool Tongyi Lingma Tool boosts coding speed, supports top dev platforms

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