Alibaba's Next Qwen AI Model May No Longer Be Free for Large Enterprises as It Eyes Moonshot Kimi K3-Like

Reuters reports Alibaba will require major users of its upcoming open-source Qwen 3.8-Max AI model to negotiate commercial licenses and share revenue from products built with the model. The revenue share rate is not yet set, and the measure may be introduced next week. The plan follows Moonshot’s Kimi K3 licensing, which can require paid deals and up to 30% revenue sharing.

Bloomberg quoted Union Bancaire Privée’s Vey-Sern Ling saying investors may underestimate Chinese AI models under chip limits. Alibaba shares rose over 4%. Alibaba plans to release Qwen3.8 Max weights for public download next week. The article also cites a report that Apple gained approval for Apple Intelligence in China, with Alibaba’s Qwen expected to support it. BABA has a $309B market cap and an average $182.55 price target.

Alibaba plans to require major users of its open Qwen AI model (Qwen3.8-Max) to share revenue from using the model, starting next week, according to two people familiar with the plans. Details and the percentage are not yet public. The move follows similar revenue-sharing licensing for Moonshot’s Kimi K3 and reflects monetization trends in China’s AI sector.

Reuters reports that Alibaba plans to require major users of its next open-source Qwen model, Qwen3.8-Max, to share revenue from commercial offerings, according to two unnamed sources. The move would mirror Moonshot’s Kimi K3 licensing, which includes revenue-sharing above $20 million in annual sales. Alibaba currently charges for cloud hosting but largely allows open-source use in customer data centers.

The Pentagon updated its 1260H list of China military-linked firms, adding Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, WuXi AppTec, RoboSense and Unitree. From later this month, the Defense Department will be barred from direct contracting with listed firms, with third-party procurement limits starting June 2027. Alibaba and WuXi AppTec disputed the designations; memory chipmakers CXMT and YMTC were reinstated.

Alibaba Group shares rose about 4% pre-market in New York after the company unveiled Qwen 3.8-Max, its most capable Qwen AI model to date. Alibaba said the model has 2.4 trillion parameters, supports multimodal image and text tasks, and will become fully open-source next week. The company expects AI products to drive cloud revenue growth.