Apple Intelligence gets regulatory approval in China thanks to Alibaba and Baidu

Apple Intelligence, Apple's generative artificial intelligence offering, has finally received approval to launch in China. As reported by Reuters, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country's internet content regulator, gave the green light to Apple's AI services after the closing of a deal to integrate Alibaba's Qwen model into the company's operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS.

The deal with Alibaba, which had been rumored since the previous year, was also confirmed by Alibaba itself in a statement to CNBC, in which the company noted that its Qwen models will be "integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences," bringing AI capabilities such as text and image understanding and generation. However, Alibaba offered no concrete timeline on when these features will be available to users.

That same Wednesday night, a Baidu spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that its company is also working with Apple on developing Apple Intelligence features designed for Chinese users. This partnership with Baidu had already been the subject of earlier rumors, though at the time reports circulated suggesting that Apple was having difficulty adapting its models to the needs of Chinese customers.

The article also mentions that Apple is reportedly exploring integrations with DeepSeek and ByteDance as well, though no further particulars are given about the status of those talks.

This move is significant because the lack of approval from Chinese regulators had caused Apple Intelligence's features, originally unveiled in 2024, to be delayed in the Chinese market. The CAC's green light thus clears one of the main regulatory hurdles Apple faced in the country.

The market context adds weight to the news: in the second quarter, Apple generated $20.5 billion in sales in Greater China, 28% more than a year earlier. The company also recently regained second place in the Chinese smartphone market, driven by discounts applied to the iPhone during a recent shopping festival. In this context, securing approval for Apple Intelligence in China shapes up as an important step for Apple's AI ambitions in one of its key markets.

The article was updated on Thursday, July 16 to add Baidu's statement, indicating that the story was still developing at the time of publication and that details are still missing, such as concrete launch timelines or the exact scope of the features that will reach Chinese users.