Alibaba Group Holding’s stock listed in Hong Kong slid sharply on Thursday, dropping over 4% to HK$94.55, a level described in market reports as a near 15-month low.
The move came after Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company, sent a letter to U.S. senators and officials in the White House alleging that operators tied to Alibaba’s Qwen AI lab ran an extensive campaign to evade its model access controls by using thousands of fraudulent accounts. The allegation accuses those operators of orchestrating a mass effort to circumvent Anthropic’s restrictions on model access.
That charge adds pressure to questions about how Alibaba develops and manages its AI initiatives and could complicate the company’s relations with U.S. policymakers. The allegation arrived while Alibaba is also confronting scrutiny tied to a Pentagon designation that associated the company with China’s military. This week Alibaba filed suit against the Pentagon, denying any affiliation with the Chinese military and contesting that designation.
Market participants noted the drop in Alibaba’s shares did not occur in isolation. Other large Chinese technology names traded lower in Hong Kong on the same day, including Baidu and NetEase, suggesting a broader pullback across the sector rather than an exclusive selloff in Alibaba stock. Observers pointed to the Hang Seng Index as the primary benchmark for Hong Kong-listed equities during the session.
Analysts and market commentary highlighted a trio of pressures weighing on Alibaba. In addition to the Anthropic accusation, a reduction in price targets by Daiwa and weaker-than-expected data from China’s 618 shopping festival were cited as company-specific headwinds. These three factors together were seen as sufficient to overwhelm any broader market support and pushed Alibaba to its weakest trading level in more than a year.
The stock’s move also underscored how far shares have retreated from prior highs, with reference made to a 52-week high of HK$186.20 when discussing the scale of the decline.
Market context: The combination of an external allegation about AI practices, a broker price target adjustment, and disappointing retail festival metrics contributed to a convergence of negative factors that weighed on investor sentiment for the company and the wider Chinese technology sector during the trading session.