China’s Alibaba, Moonshot claim latest flagship AI models challenge OpenAI, Google

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Vincent ChowJanuary 27, 2026 at 10:30 AM

AI Summary

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Alibaba Cloud, a unit of Alibaba Group Holding, announced its most advanced AI model, Qwen3-Max-Thinking, on Monday. This release, along with another from Moonshot, marks the first major Chinese AI model releases this year. Qwen3-Max-Thinking, the latest in the Qwen3 series, is said to have enhanced agentic and tool use capabilities. The model is available on Alibaba's cloud platform and chatbot website, with plans for integration into its consumer Qwen app. The release is being closely watched by industry observers monitoring the progress of Chinese AI development relative to the US.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Hangzhou 40% Zheng Chujie 60% United States 70% OpenAI 70% Google 70% China ×280% Qwen3-Max-Thinking ×285% Alibaba Group Holding 90% Alibaba Cloud ×395%

Keywords

ai models 100% china 90% alibaba 80% qwen3-max-thinking 70% foundational models 60% artificial intelligence 50% cloud computing 50% model parameters 40%

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Positive

Score: 0.30

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South China Morning Post

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Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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