Apple Inc. has received government approval to launch Apple Intelligence in China, the world's biggest and most competitive smartphone market. The Cyberspace Administration of China included Apple's AI services on a list of approved providers on Wednesday.
To facilitate this rollout, Apple has entered into a partnership with Alibaba. Alibaba confirmed that its Qwen AI models will be integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences across several platforms, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS for users in China.
This long-rumored deal marks a major expansion of Apple's generative AI platform into one of its most important markets. The government approval places Apple's AI services on a list of approved providers alongside products from Huawei.