Alibaba Launches Qwen3 AI Models for Apple Devices in China

Alibaba has unveiled an upgraded version of its Qwen3 AI model now compatible with Apple's MLX architecture, marking a significant step toward the launch of Apple Intelligence in China. This collaboration allows the AI to run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, iPhones, and iPads, complying with Chinese regulations that require Apple to partner with a local company for AI features. Alibaba's Qwen3 model supports 119 languages and dialects and incorporates a hybrid reasoning framework using Mixture of Experts (MoE) models for flexible AI performance. Despite some skepticism about AI models' reasoning capabilities, Apple trusts Alibaba's AI expertise, though this partnership has raised concerns among U.S. officials regarding potential manipulation of AI outputs in China. Alibaba's integration with Apple devices is expected to strengthen Apple's position in the Chinese market, where it recently regained the top spot for iPhone sales, and it has positively influenced Alibaba's stock outlook with analysts projecting notable growth. The open-sourcing of Alibaba’s Qwen models further aims to accelerate AI application development and cloud service expansion in China.