Alibaba Slashes Prices To Own The AI Coding Market

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is accelerating its artificial intelligence ambitions, rolling out a low-cost coding tool that gives developers access to some of China’s most advanced AI models amid intensifying competition in AI-powered software.

Alibaba Rolls Out Low-Cost AI Coding Platform

Alibaba’s cloud division launched a new AI-powered coding platform that provides affordable access to several leading Chinese AI models.

The tool runs on open-source systems, including Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5 as well as models from Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax.

Users can switch freely between models under a single subscription.

The company is promoting a lite version priced at 7.9 Chinese yuan ($1.15) for the first month and 40 yuan thereafter.

The pro version costs 39.9 yuan for the first month and 200 yuan thereafter, Bloomberg reported Friday.

AI Chip Built To Challenge Nvidia’s Grip On China

Alibaba is also strengthening its AI infrastructure with the launch of a high-end, self-developed chip, as U.S. export restrictions limit China’s access to advanced Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) semiconductors.

Its chip unit, T-Head, unveiled the Zhenwu 810E, an entirely in-house designed application-specific integrated circuit built for AI training and inference.

The chip delivers performance broadly comparable to Nvidia’s H20 processor for China and supports the heavy data demands of generative AI.

Alibaba Cloud has already deployed the Zhenwu 810E in multiple 10,000-card clusters, and more than 400 customers, including State Grid, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and XPeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV), use the chip.

The company optimized it to train and run its Qwen large language models.

BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were down 1.32% at $146.10 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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