The Big Tech Battle: Four Fortresses, Four Strategies
The real competition in Chinese AI isn’t between AI models — it’s between distribution ecosystems. Each platform leverages unique moats. Model quality matters less than deployment surface.
Alibaba: Commerce + Cloud Fortress
Primary moat: Transaction infrastructure. Tongyi Qianwen at 150M MAU, 35.8% cloud share. Full L1-L7 stack coverage — the only player with true vertical integration from chips to consumer. Ecosystem spans Taobao, Tmall, Alipay, DingTalk, Ele.me, Cainiao, Lazada. Strategy: Full-stack integration and commerce depth.
ByteDance: Attention + Content Fortress
Primary moat: Recommendation algorithm. Doubao at 157M MAU, Douyin 600M DAU. Cloud share 14.8%. The attention machine makes AI features sticky. TikTok extends this globally. Strategy: Attention monetization, “app factory” rapid deployment muscle.
Tencent: Social + Payments Fortress
Primary moat: Social graph + payments. WeChat 1.3B MAU, 10B+ tool calls/day. Cloud share 7%. Mini Programs turn WeChat into an operating system. Strategy: AI embedded in WeChat ecosystem, social infrastructure.
Commerce vs Content (Alibaba vs ByteDance): Who captures purchase decisions? Alibaba’s commerce heritage versus ByteDance’s content-to-commerce evolution.
Social vs. Search (Tencent vs. Baidu): Who becomes the AI interface? WeChat’s social lock-in versus Baidu’s search intent.
Cloud Infrastructure (Alibaba vs All): Who powers the B2B layer? Alibaba’s 35.8% lead versus fragmented competition.
The key insight: competition is between ecosystems, not models. Each platform defends unique territory with distinct moats.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
