New Delhi, Nov. 25 -- Alibaba's AI strategy gained fresh momentum this week as its newly relaunched Qwen app crossed 10 million downloads within seven days. The milestone, revealed through a WeChat post, triggered a more than 5% rise in the company's Hong Kong-listed shares on Monday. The uptake underscores a growing appetite for consumer-facing AI tools in China, particularly amid continued restrictions on access to Western alternatives.

Qwen's performance positions Alibaba for a renewed push into consumer AI at a time when global competition is intensifying. The app's rapid scale, unusual in China's crowded AI ecosystem, suggests that users are actively seeking practical, locally tailored models to fill a market gap left by services li...