Select Language:
Alibaba has established the Token Foundry Business Unit as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence framework, following the launch of the Alibaba Token Hub earlier this year. This new division was created through the merger of the Tongyi Large Model Business Unit and the Future Life Lab, both under Alibaba’s e-commerce units for Taobao and Tmall. The company announced yesterday that the division would be directly managed by CEO Eddie Wu.
Zheng Bo, the chief scientist of Taobao and Tmall, will integrate AI models HappyHorse and HappyOyster—both introduced in April—into the new Token Foundry. HappyHorse is a video generation model that quickly surged to the top of the Video Arena leaderboard on a prominent AI evaluation platform after its debut. HappyOyster enables users to build and interact with digital worlds in real time.
By establishing both the Token Hub and Token Foundry and fostering future collaboration between them, Alibaba aims to enhance capabilities across foundational models, applications, and the Model-as-a-Service sector—thereby boosting its competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
Launched in March, the Alibaba Token Hub focuses on creating, distributing, and applying tokens. Its structure includes Tongyi Lab, the MaaS business line, and divisions like Qwen, Wukong, and AI Innovation. The company emphasized that this group is a core business alongside its e-commerce and cloud computing divisions.
Additionally, Alibaba formed a top-level technology committee in April and upgraded Tongyi Lab to the Tongyi Large Model Business Unit to speed up AI development. This committee is headed by Wu and includes Chief AI Architect Zhou Jingren, CTO Wu Zeming, and Alibaba Cloud CTO Li Feifei.
In the same announcement, Zhou was promoted to chief scientist and tasked with establishing the AI Future Research Institute, which will concentrate on pioneering advanced AI technologies.
The company reported that revenue from its AI products reached CNY 9 billion (approximately USD 1.3 billion) in the quarter ending March 31, representing eleven consecutive quarters of triple-digit year-over-year growth. Alibaba noted that its AI business has now entered a phase of commercial profitability.
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini AI
Grok AI
