Apple partners with Alibaba to create a localisation-focused language model for China, aiming to strengthen its presence amid growing domestic AI competition and stringent regulations.
Apple is developing a large language model for China with Alibaba, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would give the company a more localised route into one of its most tightly regulated markets. The system is intended to support Apple Intelligence in China, where foreign AI services such as ChatGPT and Claude are not officially available.
The project fits a strategy Apple has been assembling for more than a year. In February 2025, Apple and Alibaba confirmed a partnership to bring AI features to iPhones sold in China, after Apple had explored other options, including Baidu and DeepSeek. Alibaba later said that it had been chosen to provide AI technology for iPhones in the country, reflecting the difficulty of meeting China’s content and compliance rules with a single global model.
By July 2026, reports said China’s Cyberspace Administration had approved Apple Intelligence for launch in the country after the integration of Alibaba’s Qwen AI model into Apple’s operating systems. That approval would mark an important regulatory milestone, suggesting Apple is close to offering its generative AI tools to Chinese users after a long delay.
For Apple, the timing is commercially important. Huawei and other domestic smartphone makers have been adding AI functions quickly, intensifying pressure on iPhone sales in China. A region-specific model could give Apple more control over features, while allowing it to tailor outputs to local rules rather than relying on a single international AI stack.
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