Alibaba’s Qwen app registered over 10 million downloads within a week of its recent relaunch
The rapid growth reflects China's strong appetite for local AI products and the intensifying US-China AI race
Analysts view Qwen as central to Alibaba's strategy to benchmark against OpenAI and boost its consumer business valuation
Alibaba Group’s Qwen app registered more than 10 million downloads within a week of its recent relaunch, the Chinese conglomerate revealed in a post on WeChat. The surge comes after Alibaba consolidated and rebranded several existing iOS and Android applications under the Qwen label.
The Qwen app’s rapid adoption marks another significant step in the intensifying AI race between the US and China.
31 October 2025
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The rapid rise in downloads places it among the fastest-growing AI apps. It also reflects China’s strong appetite for local AI products, as mainland users increasingly seek alternatives to services that are unavailable in the region.
Market Impact
Alibaba’s shares surged more than 5% on Monday in Hong Kong after it disclosed the figures in a WeChat blog post.
Analysts say the app’s strong debut could prove significant for Alibaba’s long-term valuation. Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities International told ET that the market views Qwen as central to Alibaba’s efforts to benchmark itself against OpenAI and reinvigorate its consumer business.
“Whether or not they can leverage the Qwen app to drive their consumer-facing business will be an important factor influencing the company’s future valuation,” Ng told ET. “The market also views this move as a crucial step in benchmarking it against the valuation of OpenAI.”
Plan Ahead & Background
Alibaba reportedly plans to roll out agentic AI capabilities across its ecosystem in the coming months, initially integrating them into its flagship Taobao marketplace to support shopping and gradually advancing Qwen toward becoming a fully autonomous AI agent.
The approach underscores the company’s broader ambition to embed AI deeper into its consumer platforms, a direction that is likely to draw scrutiny from investors as it prepares to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday.
The announcement coincides with a similar move by its fintech affiliate Ant Group Co, which unveiled its own multimodal AI assistant, LingGuang, last week. The tool has seen rapid adoption, reportedly surpassing one million downloads within four days of launch, signaling growing demand among Chinese consumers for AI-driven digital services.
Qwen App Features
Qwen is positioned as a “free-for-all” portal through which consumers can access a wide range of AI-powered services, spanning navigation, shopping and productivity. Built on Alibaba Cloud’s open-source Qwen model series and marketed as “the best personal AI assistant,” the app is designed to function not only as a chatbot but as a comprehensive companion capable of handling both professional tasks and daily-life needs, the company has said.
Domestically, the product enters a fiercely competitive environment. Qwen goes head-to-head with ByteDance’s Doubao, as well as Zhipu AI, which provides basic access at no cost but charges for premium features. To strengthen the brand’s footprint, Alibaba Cloud has also been filing Qwen-related trademarks across sectors including education, entertainment, social services and finance, signaling ambitions that extend well beyond a single consumer-facing app.
