Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. launched a 3 billion yuan ($420 million) promotional campaign for its Qwen AI chatbot to coincide with the Lunar New Year. The initiative offers cash incentives and free orders across major platforms including Taobao and Alipay. This move intensifies a subsidy war with competitors Baidu and Tencent as they vie for AI dominance during the holiday season.
A massive surge in user traffic caused immediate system crashes and prevented many users from accessing the promotion. Alibaba officials confirmed they are urgently allocating additional resources to stabilize the system. Despite these technical difficulties, the Qwen app reached the top of the free app charts on Apple’s App Store in China.
Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares rose approximately 1.85% in premarket trading on Friday. This gain ended a six-day losing streak for the stock. Market reaction suggests investors are prioritizing the company’s aggressive AI expansion over ongoing concerns regarding slower growth in its core e-commerce business.