Major Chinese technology firms Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei are developing agentic artificial intelligence systems that can perform multi‑step tasks autonomously and interact with software, data and services without direct human instruction. The companies are tailoring the technology to specific industries and workflows, positioning it for commercial deployment across finance, logistics, manufacturing and other sectors.
Alibaba’s open‑source strategy
Alibaba’s approach centers on the Qwen family of large language models, which are multilingual and released under open‑source licences. The models form the foundation of Alibaba Cloud’s AI services and agent platforms. The cloud provider has published documentation for its agent‑development tools and vector‑database services, allowing external developers to build autonomous agents on the platform.
The Qwen family is marketed as a platform for industry‑specific solutions in finance, logistics and customer support. A public‑beta application built on the models, the Qwen App, has reportedly attracted a large user base and links autonomous tasks to Alibaba’s commerce and payments ecosystem.
Alibaba also offers Qwen‑Agent, an open‑source framework that encourages third‑party development of autonomous systems. This mirrors a broader trend in China’s AI sector, where hyperscalers release frameworks and tools to compete with Western projects such as Microsoft’s AutoGen and OpenAI’s Swarm. Tencent has released a similar open‑source agent framework, Youtu‑Agent.
Tencent and Huawei’s industry‑focused agentic AI
Huawei combines model development, infrastructure and industry‑specific agent frameworks to attract global users. Its Huawei Cloud division has built a “supernode” architecture that supports large cognitive models and the workflow orchestration required for agentic AI. AI agents are embedded in the foundation models of the Pangu family, which includes hardware stacks tuned for telecommunications, utilities, creative and industrial applications. Early deployments are reported in network optimisation, manufacturing and energy, where agents can plan tasks such as predictive maintenance and resource allocation with minimal human oversight.
Tencent Cloud offers a “scenario‑based AI” suite of tools and SaaS‑style applications that enterprises outside China can access, although the company’s cloud footprint remains smaller than that of Western hyperscalers in many regions.
Despite these investments, Chinese agentic AI platforms are most visible within China. Projects such as OpenClaw, originally developed outside the ecosystem, have been integrated into workplace environments like Alibaba’s DingTalk and Tencent’s WeCom. These integrations automate scheduling, code generation and developer workflows and are widely discussed in Chinese developer communities, but have not yet been adopted by enterprises in major economies outside China.
Availability in Western markets
Alibaba Cloud operates international data centres and markets AI services to customers in Europe and Asia, positioning itself as a competitor to AWS and Azure for AI workloads. Huawei also markets cloud and AI infrastructure internationally, focusing on telecommunications and regulated industries. However, uptake in Western enterprises remains limited compared with adoption of Western‑origin AI platforms. Geopolitical concerns, data‑governance restrictions and differences in enterprise ecosystems that favour local cloud providers contribute to this gap. In AI developer workflows, NVIDIA’s CUDA SHALAR remains dominant, and migration to alternative frameworks involves high upfront costs for re‑training.
Hardware constraints also affect Chinese hyperscalers. Restricted access to Western GPUs for training and inference forces them to rely on domestically produced processors or to locate some workloads in overseas data centres to secure advanced hardware. Nevertheless, the Qwen models are accessible to developers through standard model hubs and APIs under open licences for many variants, allowing Western companies and research institutions to experiment with the models regardless of cloud provider selection.
Implications and future outlook
Chinese hyperscalers have charted a distinct path for agentic AI, combining large language models with frameworks and infrastructure designed for autonomous operation in commercial contexts. While the technology is available in Western markets, it has yet to achieve the same level of enterprise penetration in Europe and the United States as Western‑origin platforms. Future developments may see increased adoption in regions where Chinese influence is stronger, such as the Middle East, South America and Africa. Continued investment in hardware, regulatory compliance and ecosystem integration will likely shape the pace at which these systems enter global enterprise environments.
