China Approves Apple Intelligence Using Alibaba and Baidu Models

The Cyberspace Administration of China approved the launch of Apple Intelligence on July 15, ending regulatory delays that had persisted since the service's 2024 announcement. To comply with local laws, the company integrated generative AI models from domestic technology firms Alibaba Group and Baidu.

Alibaba's Qwen AI model will provide text generation, image recognition, and image creation across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. Meanwhile, Baidu is developing an AI-powered search experience and specific Siri enhancements tailored for the Chinese market. The features are expected to roll out with the official iOS release later this fall, though Apple has not yet announced a specific launch date.

Following the approval, Alibaba and Baidu shares rose 5% and 4% respectively in Hong Kong, while Apple shares gained nearly 1% in U.S. premarket trading. Separately, Apple is evaluating model-compression technology from Caltech spinout PrismML. This technology could potentially reduce the open-source Qwen 3.6 model from 54 GB to under 4 GB, allowing a 27-billion-parameter model to run locally on iPhone 15 and newer devices.