What Is Going On With Alibaba Stock On Friday?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) stock gained on Friday amid investor optimism surrounding Chinese stocks, driven by their artificial intelligence innovation and government initiatives.

The stock also gained in sympathy with Baidu, Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) after the company shared plans to spin off and separately list Kunlunxin, its AI chip unit, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company said the proposed spinoff would allow Kunlunxin, a non-wholly owned subsidiary, to operate as a standalone public company, highlighting its value to investors focused on AI chips.

Also Read: Alibaba Adds Maps, Navigation To Fast-Growing Qwen AI

China's Chip Push Gains Momentum

The plan coincided U.S.–China geopolitical tensions over semiconductor technology and more.

Restraints from Washington and Beijing have restricted China's access to cutting-edge AI chips from Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA).

Chinese policymakers have encouraged domestic chip adoption and directed billions of dollars toward local semiconductor development.

Kunlunxin will likely work alongside domestic peers such as Huawei Ascend, Cambricon, and Alibaba to help build a broader homegrown AI computing ecosystem, CNBC reported on Friday.

AI And Cloud Strength

Alibaba stock gained 73% in the last 12 months, backed by its investments and growth in AI, particularly through its Alibaba Cloud, which generates triple-digit growth in AI-related revenue, alongside increased AI spending, new model releases like Qwen3-Max.

It is strengthening its AI and cloud position as rising adoption fuels long-term growth.

Nomura analysts had said that Alibaba is well placed to benefit from accelerating AI use across China, pointing to rapid innovation, expanding software adoption and strong policy support for a domestic AI ecosystem, despite ongoing constraints around advanced chips.

They highlighted Alibaba's push to scale its Qwen AI models across consumer apps, cloud services and hardware.

Meta Platforms Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) adoption of Qwen models and Alibaba's move to unify Qwen into a single cross-device platform could deepen engagement and support cloud growth.

BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were up 4.02% at $152.47 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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