Alibaba (BABA) Rolls Out New Qwen AI Model — Can It Keep Up in China’s AI Race?

Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese e-commerce and cloud company, launched its new Qwen3.6-Plus AI model, aiming to strengthen its position in the fast-growing AI race. The update highlights better coding and task handling, but investor reaction remained muted amid intense competition in China’s AI market.

New Model Targets Smarter Coding and Faster Work

Alibaba said Qwen3.6-Plus brings a clear improvement in coding tasks. It can handle everything from basic web building to more complex, project-level problems.

The model is available through Alibaba Cloud’s Model Studio and can be used via API. It also works with coding tools like OpenClaw, Claude Code, and Qwen Code, making it easier for developers to build and test programs. The company added that the model is better at understanding text, images, and video together. This helps it take on more real-world tasks and provides more accurate results.

Alibaba noted that this update builds on user feedback from Qwen3.5, which was released in February. The focus this time is on making the model more stable and more useful for daily developer work.

Rising Competition Keeps Pressure on

Alibaba’s AI push comes at a time when competition in China is getting intense. Companies like ByteDance, Baidu (BIDU), and DeepSeek are all launching similar models and cutting prices to gain market share.

This makes it harder for any one player to stand out, even with strong updates.

Still, Alibaba’s latest move shows it is not slowing down. The company is clearly betting that AI will be a key driver of future growth, even as near-term pressure on the stock remains.

Is Alibaba Stock a Buy Now? 

Wall Street remains constructive on the stock. Alibaba carries a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 16 Buy ratings and two Holds over the past three months. The average BABA price target stands at $187.23, suggesting roughly 51.32% upside from current levels.