Alibaba is likely to benefit from its partnership with Apple, Citi analysts say in a note. "We view Apple's selection of Alibaba's Qwen models to power Apple Intelligence in China as a meaningful endorsement of Alibaba's... AI technology," the analysts say.

The partnership is likely to help Alibaba generate incremental cloud demand, they say. It is also a further evidence of Qwen's leadership within China's foundation-model landscape, they say.

Citi maintains a buy rating and a target price of US$193.00. Its ADRs last traded at US$98.04.