SHANGHAI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Alibaba ( BABA ) Chairman

Joe Tsai said that the Chinese tech company will partner with

Apple ( AAPL ) on AI for iPhones sold in the China market, while

speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Thursday.

"They talked to a number of companies in China. In the end

they chose to do business with us. They want to use our AI to

power their phones. We feel extremely honoured to do business

with a great company like Apple ( AAPL )," Tsai said.

Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rolling out AI tools in China is crucial for Apple ( AAPL ) as iPhone

sales dipped in the holiday quarter, usually the U.S. firm's

biggest period of sales. AI features are the chief selling point

of its latest devices in other countries but were missing from

models in China where regulations require a local partnership.

Alibaba ( BABA ) has become a Chinese AI favourite among investors

early in 2025, with its stock price up over 40% so far this

year.

The firm in late January released a new version of its

Qwen 2.5 artificial intelligence model whose functionality it

said surpassed that of DeepSeek-V3, which caused a stir earlier

this year for its capability and low cost.