Both established and emerging AI players around the world are racing to produce more efficient and higher-performance models since the unexpected launch of DeepSeek's revolutionary R1 earlier this year.
Chinese firms have been doubling down on the technology with Alibaba investing in AI after debuting its first model in 2023. The strength of the company's cloud Intelligence unit was a key contributor to Alibaba's sharp profit hike in the December quarter.
"Looking ahead, revenue growth at Cloud Intelligence Group driven by AI will continue to accelerate," Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said at the time.