Alibaba chairman says Asian firms can look for growth outside us

(Bloomberg) -Joe Tsai, chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Tsai also implicitly criticized the administration of US President Donald Trump’s trade war during a Macau technical conference, saying: “Some governments are trying to break down this bridge we built between Asia and the rest of the world.” “There are actually many business activities between Asia, involvement that can take place among the East Asian countries between East Asia and Southeast Asian and eventually South Asia,” Tsai told the audience at Beyond Expo. He added that Europe is “an incredible opportunity” for Asian businesses. Alibaba’s core businesses have become the victim of the long-term tension in the US China. The company’s shares fell this week after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration expressed concern about Apple Inc. ‘s potential AI agreement with the Chinese e-commerce leader, an important victory for the Hangzhou-based company. Although Apple did not publicly talk about such a partnership, Tsai confirmed the merger earlier this year, although he did not specify whether Alibaba would be the exclusive AI supplier of the US company in China. A local partner can help revive the sales of iPhone in China, which as competitors such as Huawei Technologies Co. suffered, continue with smartphones in AI-activated. Apple has yet to offer its full range of AI functions in China, due to regulations that require it to work together a local accredited company. Alibaba’s e-commerce operations were also influenced by Trump’s decision to close a tariff loom for small parcels from the mainland of China and Hong Kong. Last week, Alibaba’s disappointing results dropped the company’s shares most in more than a month. Investors are careful that the e-commerce leader can overcome a persistent Chinese economic evil and benefit from its status as one of the leaders in the Deepseek-inspired AI boom. But Tsai defended Alibaba’s prospects on Saturday and said the company was on a very good path “and repeated the company’s focus on e-commerce and AI. The company’s return to years of government investigation is orchestrated by Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu Two of co-founder Jack Ma’s most reliable lieutenants. After taking the helm in 2023, they once again addressed spending on the build-up of AI and e-commerce, while accelerating the loosing of non-nuclear assets to bank sign up the AI ​​investment and international expansion. Alibaba releases AI products in a frenetic rate since Deepseek’s rise on the global stage this year. It has risen at the forefront of the AI ​​industry of China thanks to a series of improvements and launches for rapid fire models, including the release of the Qwen3 flagship model of the past month, which said he has the performance of Deepseek on various fronts. -With help from Annabelle Drouers, Lauren Faith Lau and Debby Wu. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP