Alibaba just dropped what it calls one of the most powerful AI systems on the planet. The model, Qwen3.8-Max, carries 2.4 trillion parameters and landed on July 19, barely two days after Moonshot AI unveiled its own heavyweight contender, Kimi K3, with 2.8 trillion parameters.
Alibaba owns roughly 36% of Moonshot AI after pouring approximately $800 million into the company back in February 2024. So in a sense, Alibaba is competing with its own portfolio company.
The details behind Alibaba’s new AI flagship
The model reportedly positions itself as the runner-up to Anthropic’s Fable 5, which places it squarely in the top tier of global AI systems.
Alibaba’s open-source Qwen model family has been gaining serious traction since its initial launch in 2023. The company claims approximately one million downloads per day across its open-source Qwen variants.
