Apple partners with Alibaba

Last week, Alibaba announced that it is partnering with Apple to roll out the latter's AI offering in China. Given how politically sensitive data processing and AI capabilities are at the moment, it makes sense that Apple has chosen to partner with a local company. It is interesting that they aren't partnering with DeepSeek.

Apple has also been working with Baidu, another large Chinese company, on developing more AI capabilities. The strategy seems similar to what they have done in the rest of the world, not wanting to be locked into one company's ecosystem. In the western world, Apple is primarily using OpenAI, but they are also working with Google's AI team.

Partnering with Alibaba, who are a titan in China, is sure to have some secondary positive effects. They will gain extra insights into their customers, and Apple will improve their political connections. Hopefully, the partnership will also result in more iPhone sales.