Yazılar

Apple Partners with Alibaba to Introduce AI Features for iPhones in China

/in /tarafından

Apple has partnered with Alibaba to launch artificial intelligence features for iPhone users in China, a move aimed at addressing months of uncertainty over Apple’s AI strategy in the region, according to The Information. The collaboration could help Apple regain its competitive edge in the Chinese market, where it has been losing ground to local rivals such as Huawei, which has already incorporated AI tools into its smartphones since last year.

Apple’s stock rose by 1.5% following the news, while Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares saw a 2.6% gain. Apple had initially chosen Baidu as its AI partner, but the Chinese company’s progress in developing models for Apple Intelligence did not meet Apple’s standards. As a result, Apple considered various other AI models from Tencent, ByteDance, Alibaba, and Deepseek but ultimately chose Alibaba for its ability to leverage vast amounts of user data related to shopping and payment habits, which could enhance model training and enable more personalized services.

The Chinese AI features co-developed by Apple and Alibaba are now under review by China’s cyberspace regulator for approval. This development is crucial as Apple’s iPhone sales declined during the holiday quarter, typically its best-performing period, largely due to the absence of AI features in its latest devices. Apple remains optimistic, forecasting strong sales growth for the current quarter.

JD.com Enters China’s Competitive Food Delivery Market

/in /tarafından

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (9618.HK) is expanding into the country’s food delivery sector, announcing on Tuesday its move to recruit restaurants for its new service, JD Takeaway. The company posted an invitation on its official Weixin account, offering a compelling incentive for restaurants: “Join us now, zero commissions all year round!”

Merchants who sign up with JD Takeaway before May 1 will enjoy a full year of commission-free services. JD.com aims to provide extensive support to these businesses, promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the food delivery industry.

China’s food delivery market is highly competitive, with two major players dominating the space: Meituan (3690.HK), the market leader, and Eleme, owned by Alibaba (9988.HK). JD.com’s entry into this market comes at a time when the company is facing intense competition in the broader e-commerce industry, dominated by giants like Alibaba Group and PDD Holdings (PDD.O), as well as rising platforms such as Douyin.

To stay competitive amid an economic slowdown and declining consumer spending power, JD.com has rolled out discount campaigns. However, these efforts have contributed to a decline in the company’s share price. Despite this, JD.com continues to leverage its robust, self-run logistics network, offering same-day or next-day delivery across most regions of China.

Chinese Chip Makers and Cloud Providers Rush to Support DeepSeek’s AI Models

/in /tarafından

Chinese chip makers and cloud service providers are quickly integrating DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models into their systems, marking a significant turning point for the nation’s AI industry. Companies like Moore Threads and Hygon Information Technology, both AI chip manufacturers, announced that their computing clusters and accelerators are now compatible with DeepSeek’s R1 and V3 models. Moore Threads even shared a celebratory post on WeChat, praising DeepSeek’s ability to drive China’s AI sector forward by utilizing domestically produced graphic processing units (GPUs).

Huawei Technologies, which also develops AI chips, revealed it is collaborating with AI infrastructure startup SiliconFlow to integrate DeepSeek’s models into its Ascend cloud service. This integration has been described as a “watershed moment” by Bernstein analysts, highlighting the growing independence of China’s AI sector from advanced U.S. hardware.

Cloud giants like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have also jumped on board, offering DeepSeek’s models through their respective services. DeepSeek’s AI assistant, launched last month, quickly gained popularity by offering a more data-efficient alternative at a fraction of the cost of global competitors, surpassing ChatGPT in app downloads from Apple’s App Store within days.

The company has drawn attention globally with its groundbreaking approach. DeepSeek’s research, published in December, claimed that its V3 model’s training cost less than $6 million in Nvidia’s H800 chips—significantly lower than the billions spent by companies like Meta and Microsoft. This has been a major factor in DeepSeek’s rising prominence, with its founder, Liang Wenfeng, becoming a cultural figure in China.

While Microsoft and Amazon have started offering DeepSeek’s models, some countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, have raised concerns over privacy, leading them to either block or investigate the AI app.