Alibaba (BABA) Stock: Qwen AI Model to Include Revenue-Sharing for Big Users

TLDR

• Alibaba plans to require large commercial users of its upcoming Qwen3.8-Max open-source AI model to share revenue with the company.
• The move mirrors Moonshot’s Kimi K3 licensing model, which requires a commercial agreement for services generating over $20 million annually.
• Moonshot has required up to a 30% revenue share from partners; Alibaba’s rate is still being determined.
• Chinese AI firms are adopting a “freemium” playbook: free for small users, paid for heavy commercial use.
• BABA stock was down 1.34% on the day the report broke.

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Alibaba (BABA) stock fell 1.34% on Friday after Reuters reported the company plans to charge major commercial users of its next open-source AI model, Qwen3.8-Max, through a revenue-sharing arrangement.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, BABA

The model is expected to launch as soon as next week, according to two sources familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Qwen3.8-Max is an open-weight model, meaning the underlying parameters are available for download. Developers can run or adapt the system freely, which sets it apart from the closed-source models offered by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google.

But free has a ceiling. Alibaba plans to require large commercial users to enter a revenue-sharing agreement, similar to a clause buried in the license of Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model.

That clause requires anyone selling Kimi K3 as a service and generating more than $20 million in annual revenue to reach a commercial deal with Moonshot. Moonshot has asked for up to a 30% revenue share, according to one of the sources.

Alibaba plans a similar threshold for Qwen3.8-Max. The exact revenue-share rate is still being worked out, the sources said.

A Familiar Playbook

This approach has a name in Silicon Valley: freemium. Offer the product free at the start, then charge once commercial scale kicks in.

“This is a tried and tested open-source ‘freemium’ model,” said Paddy Srinivasan, CEO of DigitalOcean Holdings, which offers Kimi K3 and other Chinese models on its platform. He confirmed DigitalOcean has a commercial agreement with Moonshot but declined to give details.

Chinasoft International, a Chinese IT services provider, disclosed a revenue-sharing deal with Moonshot in a regulatory filing last month, without specifying the percentage.

Previously, Alibaba charged developers for model access when hosted on its own cloud platform, but let users run open-source versions in their own data centers without payment. The new model marks a shift for the company’s open-source strategy.

Pricing and Competition

Kimi K3 is already priced at roughly a third of Anthropic’s Fable model based on listed input and output token prices, giving Chinese models a cost edge in the market.

Dan Fu, VP of kernels at Together AI, said the real value is in how models are deployed. “At the application layer, there’s value out there for how you use it, how you actually get the models and the tokens to do something useful,” he said.

The open-source landscape is also drawing in U.S. players. Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, released its first open-source model last month and is expected to release more powerful versions.

The White House has accused Moonshot of stealing technology from Anthropic, a claim Chinese officials have rejected.

Alibaba has not publicly confirmed the Qwen3.8-Max licensing plans. The sources said the launch is planned for next week.