By Tracy Qu

Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai confirmed that the e-commerce giant is working with Apple to roll out AI features for iPhones in China.

"Apple has been very selective, they talked to a number of companies in China, and in the end, they choose to do business with us. They want to use our AI to power their phones," Tsai said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

Tsai's comments come a day after reports of Apple having recently submitted Apple Intelligence features for China, developed with Alibaba, for approval by the country's cyberspace regulator.

The news sent Alibaba shares up 8.5% on Wednesday. Shares were up another 3.3% in Thursday afternoon trading.

Tsai explained that Apple needs to work with Chinese companies on AI features due to regulatory issues, Tsai said.

"I think it's going to be the case in the future... wherever you do business, you may want to have a localized AI that power your devices," he added.

Apple launched Apple Intelligence last year, a new AI tool that includes an improved Siri voice assistant, as well as a variety of text-generation and photo-editing capabilities.

The U.S. tech giant's revenue from the Greater China region fell 11% in the quarter ending in December, a decline that CEO Tim Cook attributed partly to Apple Intelligence not being available in China.

Alibaba and Apple didn't immediately respond to comment requests. The company is scheduled to report earnings next Thursday.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 13, 2025 02:42 ET (07:42 GMT)

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