Alibaba is investing 5 billion yuan ($691 million) in Chinese startup Baichuan. This is Alibaba’s third major AI deal this year. Baichuan is now valued at 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) thanks to funding from the governments of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as investors Tencent and Xiaomi.
Baichuan was founded in April 2023. The company is a leader in generative AI in China, being one of the first to receive approval from Beijing for a public launch. The startup released 12 Large Language Models and introduced an AI assistant in May.
Alibaba’s new CEOs, Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu, are looking for ways to revive a business that has suffered from regulatory pressure over the past two years. In addition to investing in AI, Alibaba plans to separate business areas to encourage independent divisions, from cloud technologies to logistics. In addition to Baichuan, Alibaba has already invested in AI companies MiniMax and Moonshot AI.
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