MiniMax expands Alibaba cloud pact as compute needs surge for training and inference

MiniMax expands Alibaba cloud pact as compute needs surge for training and inference



Chinese artificial intelligence firm MiniMax has raised the three-year purchase ceiling on its cloud computing deals with Alibaba Group Holding by 220 per cent to US$1.2 billion, underscoring surging demand for computing power among the country’s top AI developers.

The Shanghai-based company planned to spend up to US$300 million on Alibaba Cloud services this year, nearly triple its original US$115 million cap, after burning through two-thirds of its budget by the end of June, according to its Hong Kong stock exchange filings on Wednesday.

Under the updated agreement through 2028, MiniMax’s annual spending limits on Alibaba Cloud services will jump from US$125 million to US$400 million for 2027, and from US$135 million to US$500 million for 2028.

In a separate revision, MiniMax expanded its application programming interface (API) service budget with Alibaba, raising the 2026 cap from US$650,000 to US$7.5 million, an over tenfold increase. This brings its three-year API spending ceiling to US$62.5 million, a nearly 20-fold jump from previous limits.

The aggressive revisions reflect MiniMax’s expanding compute needs for both model training and live inference.

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Known for its M-series large language models, the H3 video-generation model and popular consumer app Hailuo AI, MiniMax this week reported a 283 per cent surge in first-half revenue to US$116.6 million, driven by a 700 per cent leap in enterprise sales.

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