Alibaba, Baidu Stocks Rip Higher Premarket — AI Is Driving Gains Again

• Alibaba is reportedly planning a major overhaul of its AI app “Tongyi”, including changing its name to “Qwen,” the addition of agentic features, and an overseas version.
• About 100 Alibaba developers are working on the rebrand, which is expected to be rolled out in the coming months.
• Meanwhile, Baidu released the latest iteration of its flagship AI model, Ernie 5.0, and announced two new AI chips.

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba Group rose 4.4% in early premarket trading on Thursday, while Baidu’s stock gained 1% after fresh developments related to the Chinese tech giants’ artificial intelligence initiatives.

Alibaba is reportedly planning a major revamp of its flagship AI app in the coming months, a move that could make it resemble OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. 

Under the multi-step plan, Alibaba will rebrand its existing “Tongyi” apps to “Qwen,” after the company’s well-known AI model. It will then add an agentic AI feature to support shopping on platforms, including the main Taobao marketplace, and develop Qwen as a fully functional AI agent.

The company plans to eventually expand the app globally with an overseas version. Alibaba has reportedly deployed more than 100 staff developers on the project, which is seen as a major move in a year already marked by a rapid pace of AI rollouts. 

In separate news, Baidu released the latest iteration of its flagship AI model, Ernie 5.0, and announced two new chips for AI inference and training on Thursday. Among other capabilities, the model can grasp user commands in various media formats.

Speaking at the company’s annual tech event in Beijing, founder Robin Li said, “Baidu will continue to invest in and develop more cutting-edge models to push the ceiling of intelligence higher.”

Meanwhile, analysts have previously stated that Baidu’s nascent chip business and other emerging units, such as the robotaxi, are becoming an increasingly important part of the company’s operations. 

The BABA stock trended on Stocktwits early Thursday U.S. hours, although the retail sentiment remained in the ‘neutral’ zone. The sentiment for BIDU shifted to ‘bearish’ from ‘bullish’ the previous day.

As of the last close, Alibaba’s shares have gained nearly 88% year-to-date, while Baidu’s shares have gained by more than 53%.

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