Alibaba Launches Qwen3.8 Max as Benchmarks Trail Earlier Claims and Undercut Kimi K3 Pricing
Updated
Updated · Nikkei Asia · Aug 3
Alibaba Launches Qwen3.8 Max as Benchmarks Trail Earlier Claims and Undercut Kimi K3 Pricing
3 articles · Updated · Nikkei Asia · Aug 3
Summary
Alibaba on Monday formally released Qwen3.8 Max, calling it its most powerful AI model yet, but post-launch benchmark tests showed weaker performance than the company had previously suggested.
Benchmark results placed the model behind several Chinese and overseas rivals, undercutting earlier claims that it could rival top global systems such as Anthropic's.
Pricing became Alibaba's clearest competitive lever: Qwen3.8 Max was set significantly below Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, a key domestic rival in China's fast-moving AI market.
The launch still deepens pressure in China's model race, where Alibaba, Moonshot, DeepSeek and ByteDance are pushing larger, cheaper systems to win users and developers.