Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA), is stepping up its U.S. expansion with a new AI-powered sourcing tool designed to simplify the sourcing process for American buyers.
What Happened: On Thursday, Alibaba.com, the B2B arm of Alibaba, announced at its annual CoCreate conference in Las Vegas, the launch of a new generative artificial intelligence agent.
This AI agent, functioning as a chatbot, will streamline the sourcing process for American buyers seeking suppliers in China and other countries, reported Nikkei Asia.
Instead of the traditional search method, which can be time-consuming, buyers can interact with the AI agent in natural language.
The AI agent will list the best suppliers, along with their pros and cons, based on the buyer’s criteria, and even send requests for quotes to selected suppliers automatically.
Companies in the U.S. and some European nations can sign up for the AI agent trial later this month, with a broader release expected later this year, according to Zhang Kuo, president at Alibaba.com, the report noted.
“The U.S. is always the No. 1 market in terms of market size and demand, so it makes sense to start out in the world’s largest economy,” Zhang said.
Zhang noted that despite U.S.-China tensions affecting international trade, Alibaba.com’s business in the U.S. is rapidly expanding.
“Tariffs added cost for both sides,” Zhang said. “But trade is essentially about demand and supply. If Chinese suppliers can meet the demand of American buyers, then they will still source from China despite the tariff actions.”
The AI sourcing agent is supported by multiple artificial intelligence models including Alibaba’s in-house AI, Meta Platforms’s llama, and Google’s Gemini.
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Why It Matters: China has emerged as the global frontrunner in the adoption of generative AI, according to a survey conducted by SAS and Coleman Parkes Research. This positions Alibaba favorably in the global AI landscape.
Previously it was reported that despite U.S. sanctions limiting China’s access to Nvidia Corporation chips, Chinese tech giants like Alibaba have doubled their capital expenditure in 2024, with a heavy focus on AI infrastructure.
Alibaba.com’s American business has also been growing rapidly. More than 8 million small and midsize enterprises in the U.S. buy or sell on Alibaba.com, making the country the B2B platform’s biggest buyer market.
Image via Shutterstock
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
