NEW YORK, August 3, 2026, 05:04 EDT – Shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA; HKG:9988) climbed 7% as attention turned to how Qwen is shaping artificial intelligence expenses.
- Hong Kong shares ended up 7.01%, with the ADR rising 4.46% ahead of the market open.
- Qwen utilizes 95 billion parameters, which is 8.7% less than Kimi K3.
- Alibaba reported a 38% increase in cloud revenue, while adjusted EBITA dropped by 84%.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA; HKG:9988) rose 7.0% in Hong Kong trading on Monday. Its American depositary receipt advanced 4.5% to $127.70 as of 04:55 EDT. Markets in Hong Kong had already closed and New York’s cash session had yet to begin.
The development comes after Alibaba introduced Qwen3.8-Max, its most extensive artificial intelligence model to date. The trial for investors is based on operational scale, rather than the headline figure of 2.4 trillion.
Qwen uses 95 billion parameters for each task, accounting for 4.0% of its total parameters. This active set is 8.7% less than that of Moonshot’s Kimi K3. Utilizing smaller working sets may lead to lower serving requirements.
This is not a margin outcome. The initial launch announcement did not disclose figures for usage, revenue, or standard token pricing.
Alibaba’s listings began Monday showing significant momentum.
| Listing | Latest reading | Monday move | July 24–31 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong shares | HK$125.20 close | up 7.01% | up 6.36% |
| New York ADR | $127.70 premarket | up 4.46% | up 9.02% |
Trading volume in Hong Kong climbed to 192.3 million shares, approximately 1.91 times above its 65-day moving average. As a result, the model news continued an ongoing rally instead of initiating a new one.
Alibaba surpassed its nearest technology rivals in Hong Kong.
| Company | Hong Kong close | Monday move |
|---|---|---|
| Alibaba | HK$125.20 | up 7.01% |
| Baidu Inc. HKG:9888 | HK$109.90 | increased 3.78% |
| Tencent Holdings Limited HKG:0700 | HK$490.40 | gained 3.20% |
| JD.com Inc. HKG:9618 | HK$129.30 | rose 1.73% |
Alibaba outperformed Baidu by 3.2 percentage points, rising more than twice as much as Tencent. The gap points to a possible Qwen-related premium unique to the stock.
The comparison of architectures illustrates why inference economics might attract investor attention.
| Model | Total parameters | Active parameters | Active share | Context window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8-Max | 2.4 trillion | 95 billion | 4.0% | 1 million |
| Kimi K3 | 2.8 trillion | 104 billion | 3.7% | 1.049 million |
Qwen has 14.3% fewer total parameters. Its active workload is reduced by 8.7%. Kimi is still marginally sparser in terms of overall size.
Alibaba reported that Qwen achieved fifth place in the Text Arena and secured second place in the Vision Arena. APIs are currently accessible, with model weights set for release next week.
Competition over pricing remains intense. Moonshot sets Kimi’s fee at $3 per million input tokens and $15 for output. DeepSeek V4-Flash is priced at $0.14 for input and $0.28 for output.
The economic impact can already be seen.
| Metric | Latest reported reading | Change or context |
|---|---|---|
| Group revenue | RMB243.38 billion | Increase of 3% from a year earlier |
| Cloud Intelligence revenue | RMB41.63 billion | Jumped 38% year on year |
| AI products | 30% of external cloud revenue | AI accounts for a larger proportion of cloud sales |
| Adjusted EBITA | Down 84% | Impacted by technology investments and quick-commerce expenses |
In May, Chief Executive Eddie Wu stated that technology investments were “beginning to pay off commercially.” Wu added that margin was a lower priority as Alibaba focused on expanding. Reuters
This week, traders are set to see if the ADR maintains Hong Kong’s advance. They are also monitoring Qwen pricing along with initial API adoption. The scheduled weight release next week will provide an additional technical signal.
Risks: DeepSeek’s token pricing establishes a low baseline for competition. Alibaba posted an 84% decline in adjusted EBITA due to spending on technology and quick-commerce. Benchmark standings may not necessarily translate to increased paid cloud activity.
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