Alibaba Token Hub to consolidate, boost Group’s AI strategy

Alibaba Group has created an artificial intelligence (AI)-focussed business division, the Alibaba Token Hub (ATH), led directly by CEO Eddie Wu. Announced on Monday, the group aims to consolidate and accelerate its AI strategy under the new unit.

The division will bring together the group's key AI assets, including Tongyi Laboratory, the Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) business line, Qwen, Wukong, and other AI innovation teams. This restructuring signals a shift toward tighter coordination across AI initiatives and a stronger push to integrate AI into enterprise and internal workflows.

Tongyi Lab is the group's core AI research institute, established in 2022, to build large language models (LLMs), including the multimodal Qwen. Meanwhile, Alibaba's MaaS line of business used to be a specialised unit within its cloud division. It focusses on building an open, efficient MaaS platform and technical infrastructure to power the AI ecosystem across various industries.


The move follows internal disruption, including the recent departure of Lin Junyang and other senior executives from the Qwen team, which had raised concerns about strategic direction.

This is significant as the group is separating its AI operations from its cloud computing division, stepping back from the earlier ambition of offering a fully bundled stack of infrastructure, models, and applications.

According to a Reuters report, the unit separation measure appears to be a move towards a token-based monetisation model centred on AI agents and digital assistants.

Unlike traditional chatbots, these agents operate continuously, executing tasks such as managing emails, scheduling, document editing, and research. This leads to significantly higher token consumption, potentially transforming the economics of AI usage. However, the growing popularity of open-source agents like OpenClaw has accelerated this shift.

The company also launched Wukong on Tuesday, a platform that brings together multiple AI agents under a single, unified interface.

Chinese AI companies, including DeepSeek and Alibaba, are competing aggressively on price, offering models that are substantially cheaper than their American counterparts. While this advantage is driven by lower electricity costs, domestic chip production, and algorithmic efficiencies, it also raises concerns about long-term profitability.