Operational Excellence (OPEX) Daily Briefing – Wednesday, September 24, 2025: Alibaba and the AI Leap Through the Lens of Operational Excellence for Businesses.

Welcome to my unique weekday article for the paid subscriber-only edition.

Operational Excellence (OPEX) Daily Briefing – issued on weekdays (Monday to Friday).

Subscribe now

Don’t forget the unique BizDecoded series.

1. Official Information

On September 24, 2025, Alibaba announced a new investment strategy in AI and cloud computing infrastructure. The company confirmed it would spend hundreds of billions of yuan over the next three years to expand data centers and develop large language models. Immediately after the announcement, Alibaba’s stock price surged more than 8%, becoming one of the highlights of the Asian stock market.

A key product introduced was Qwen3-Max, a large language model with over one trillion parameters, rated on par with OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s Gemini. This is considered a major step forward for Alibaba in asserting its position in the global AI race.

In the most recent quarter, the Alibaba Cloud segment grew revenue by 26% year-on-year. This reinforced confidence that Cloud and AI will become new growth engines, reducing traditional dependence on e-commerce.

2. Industry Context

The global AI market in 2025 has entered a fiercely competitive phase. After OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google launched next-generation models, Asian tech companies were forced to accelerate.

• Amazon AWS is leading the global cloud market with about 30% market share.

• Microsoft Azure is leveraging the power of OpenAI to capture additional market share.

• Google Cloud is strengthening its AI ecosystem with Gemini.

• Alibaba Cloud currently holds about 4–5% globally but remains the number one provider in China.

Pouring massive capital into AI & Cloud is not just a technology project; it is a strategic decision for survival. Without moving ahead, Alibaba risks falling behind in a race where the pace of innovation is measured in months rather than years.

Share