Alibaba Arms Restaurants With AI To Take On Meituan

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) is expanding the use of artificial intelligence across its local services ecosystem as it seeks to enhance its moat in China’s competitive food and dining market.

AI-Powered Restaurant Showcases Take Shape

The company is launching a new AI-powered service designed to help restaurants digitally showcase their interiors.

The feature aligns with CEO Eddie Wu’s strategy, mirroring similar initiatives at global tech rivals such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, and Tencent Holding Ltd. (OTC:TCEHY).

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Challenging Meituan In Local Services

It also marks the e-commerce juggernaut’s efforts to challenge Meituan (OTC:MPNGY) in the Chinese market.

Amap, Alibaba’s mapping and local services arm, plans to let restaurants create 3D interior visuals by uploading simple videos or photos, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The tool, built on Alibaba’s visual Wan AI model, aims to cut marketing and promotion costs for merchants.

Alibaba plans to offer the service free to select businesses for a limited period, the sources told Bloomberg.

The stock gained over 82% in the last 12 months, driven by its significant investments and advancements in AI, particularly its cloud computing services and large language models (Qwen).

In 2025, the company committed tens of billions of yuan in incentives and subsidies across key platforms, a strategy that boosted usage.

Broader AI Bets Support Growth Narrative

Investor sentiment around Alibaba has also benefited from broader AI developments across China’s tech sector.

On Friday, Alibaba stock gained after Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) announced plans to spin off and list Kunlunxin, its AI chip unit, in Hong Kong.

Baidu said the move would position Kunlunxin as a standalone company and highlight its value to AI-focused investors.

Kunlunxin is expected to work alongside local players such as Huawei Ascend, Cambricon, and Alibaba to strengthen China’s homegrown AI computing stack.

Alibaba is also backing Chinese AI startup MiniMax as it moves toward a Hong Kong IPO.

MiniMax plans to list in Hong Kong in 2026 and raise at least 3.83 billion Hong Kong dollars ($492 million), with the deal potentially expanding to roughly $712 million if demand is strong.

The offering would value the OpenAI rival at around $6.5 billion.

Alibaba and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are anchoring the IPO with a cornerstone investment of about $350 million.

BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were up 0.31% at $156.22 during premarket trading on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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