NEW YORK, Jan 12, 2026, 11:08 EST
- Alibaba ADRs jumped roughly 10% following a report highlighting a sharp increase in global downloads of its Qwen open-source AI models
- According to AIBase data cited in the report, Qwen’s December downloads outpaced the combined total of the next eight models
- Talks about “open” AI at CES are intensifying as Chinese companies push for more open-model collaboration
Shares of Alibaba Group Holding (BABA.N) jumped nearly 9.8% to $165.68 in late morning trading Monday. The surge followed news that its Qwen open-source AI models surpassed 700 million downloads on Hugging Face, a platform where developers exchange and refine models. 1
The number of downloads stands out as one of the rare public indicators investors can latch onto in the AI battle. This comes as Alibaba pushes to persuade markets that cloud computing and AI will drive a bigger share of its growth.
Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen family topped 700 million downloads on Hugging Face as of January, the South China Morning Post reported, citing data analysis by consultancy AIBase; Alibaba owns the outlet. According to AIBase, December downloads for Qwen alone outnumbered the combined total of the next eight models, including those from Meta Platforms and OpenAI. The consultancy added that “tens of thousands of real-world applications” are now built using Qwen. 2
Open-source AI usually means the model comes with a licence allowing others to copy and tweak it, speeding up adoption but complicating usage tracking. Alibaba, meanwhile, offers paid tools and computing power for these models via Alibaba Cloud.
Alibaba has made AI a top priority alongside its core e-commerce business. In September, CEO Eddie Wu noted that “the speed of AI industry development has far exceeded our expectations.” The company announced a 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) investment in AI infrastructure over the next three years. Omdia chief analyst Lian Jye Su highlighted that Alibaba’s overseas data center spending will boost its appeal to international AI developers and enterprise clients. 3
The push for open models was clear at CES in Las Vegas. China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that Alibaba’s Qwen releases, described as “open-weight” models with shared system parameters, have already spawned over 100,000 developer-driven variations. Meanwhile, rival DeepSeek introduced its R3 reasoning model under an open licence. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang added that AI will “proliferate everywhere” once open source and open innovation come together. 4
Alibaba’s hefty download figures don’t guarantee a sales boost. Investors remain focused on whether broader adoption of Qwen actually drives cloud revenue higher, particularly as businesses shift to running larger models on rented servers instead of laptops.
Competition is fierce. Meta’s Llama still dominates as a key open-source benchmark. OpenAI, on the other hand, has mostly locked its main models behind paywalls. Meanwhile, Chinese labs like DeepSeek continue rolling out regular updates.
Download counts, however, offer a rough gauge: a single developer might pull a model repeatedly, and many downloaded copies may never get used. The surge in open models also sparks concerns over safety and regulatory compliance. Plus, any widely publicized misuse could rapidly escalate into a political headache.
