Alibaba to Require Revenue Sharing for Qwen3.8-Max AI Model

Alibaba Group Holding Limited plans to introduce a revenue-sharing requirement for major commercial users of its upcoming Qwen3.8-Max open-source AI model. Scheduled for implementation next week, the move marks a departure from the company's previous practice of allowing most open-source offerings to be used in customer data centers without payment.

This strategy aligns Alibaba with a business model recently adopted by the Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI for its Kimi K3 model. Moonshot AI requires commercial agreements for any entity generating more than $20 million in annual sales from the model, with some revenue shares reaching 30%. Chinasoft International Ltd. has already disclosed such an agreement with Moonshot AI in a regulatory filing.

The shift indicates a broader convergence among Chinese AI firms toward a freemium model, offering software at low or zero cost initially while charging for heavy commercial use to compete with closed-source U.S. rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. While U.S. firms like DigitalOcean Holdings have entered commercial agreements with Moonshot AI, the White House has accused Moonshot AI of stealing technology from Anthropic, a claim Chinese officials have rejected.