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The Alibaba office building is seen in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, on Aug 28, 2024.

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Alibaba on Wednesday said that it has made its video generation artificial intelligence models free to use, further ramping up competition with rivals like OpenAI.

The Chinese giant said it is open sourcing four models that are part of its Wan2.1 series, the latest version of the company’s foundational AI model that can generate images and video from text and image inputs.

These models will be available via Alibaba Cloud’s Model Scope and Hugging Face, a huge repository of AI models. They will be accessible to academics, researchers and commercial institutions globally.

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed nearly 5% higher.

Open-source AI tech has been thrown into the spotlight since Chinese firm DeepSeek rattled global markets in January, after claiming its artificial intelligence model was trained at a fraction of the cost of leading AI players and on less-advanced Nvidia chips.

DeepSeek’s model is open source, like Alibaba’s, meaning it can be downloaded and modified by others.

Open source differs from proprietary models such as those created by OpenAI and do not produce revenue for companies. Open sourcing a technology serves a number of purposes, including driving innovation and building a community around a product.

A debate is currently swirling about whether AI models will become commoditized.

Chinese firms in particular have been pushing forward with open source models, Alibaba’s and DeepSeek’s now among the most popular used globally. Alibaba published its first open source model in August 2023, while Meta is leading the open source charge with its Llama models in the U.S.

Alibaba’s stock has been on a tear this year, with the Hong Kong listing up 66% in 2025 to date due to factors including the company’s improved financial performance, its perception as one of the key AI players in China and recent signals of further support from Chinese president Xi Jinping for the domestic private sector.

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Super Micro Computer surges 16% after filing delayed financials by deadline

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Super Micro Computer surges 16% after filing delayed financials by deadline

Charles Liang, CEO of Super Micro Computer, during the AMD Advancing AI event in San Jose, California, on Dec. 6, 2023.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Super Micro Computer shares rallied 16% after the AI server company filed its delayed financial results by the Nasdaq’s deadline.

The company’s auditor BDO wrote in the filing that the the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024 “present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company” and are “in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted” in the U.S.

The company also filed audited financial results for the first two quarters of the fiscal 2025 year and said in a release that it has “regained compliance” with the Nasdaq’s filing requirements.

For the fiscal year, Super Micro said its sales more than doubled to $14.99 billion from $7.12 billion in 2023. Net income came in at roughly $1.15 billion, up from nearly $640 million in 2023.

In an attached note from management, Super Micro said it had identified material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting. That includes IT issues, a lack of documentation over manual journal entries and insufficient controls to address segregation of staff duties. Super Micro said it plans to hire additional accounting and audit employees, and upgrade IT systems.

Super Micro said in the filing that it still faces risks, including potential litigation, lower credit ratings and reputational harm associated with its late financial reports.

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Demand for Super Micro’s servers packed with Nvidia graphics processing chips has accelerated amid the AI boom that’s swept the technology community since the launch of ChatGPT. However, trouble began last year as Hindenburg Research revealed a short position, the company delayed releasing its annual report and its auditor quit due to governance concerns.

Fears of a potential delisting from the Nasdaq added further pressure to Super Micro’s stock in recent months, with shares down 48% on a year-over-year basis. Volatility continued into Tuesday’s release, with shares closing down nearly 12%.

In December, the company removed its chief financial officer and said that a review found “no evidence of misconduct.” Earlier this month, CEO Charles Liang said he was “confident” that the company would meet the Feb. 25 deadline to file its results with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed reporting

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Modi wants Tesla to build cars in India. Making the plan work may not be easy

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Modi wants Tesla to build cars in India. Making the plan work may not be easy

Tesla CEO Elon Musk postponed a scheduled trip to India this week where he was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing “heavy Tesla obligations.”

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

India has been striving to become a global manufacturing hub, having successfully invited major companies such as Apple to set up as well as expand production in the country.

To further bolster its manufacturing prowess, the South Asian nation has been eyeing Tesla to set up its base in the country. And the carmaker that has appeared reluctant for long is now signaling interest in the market as the Indian government attempts to welcome it by implementing a new EV tariff policy.

Tesla is reportedly recruiting and scouting showroom locations in the country, following a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tesla CEO Elon Musk earlier this month. 

“One thing is for sure, Tesla is coming to India based on the recent news, and the government is also very serious about it,” Puneet Gupta, Director for the Indian automotive market at S&P Global Mobility, told CNBC.

India introduced an EV policy last year that proposes to lower the import duties on EVs to 15% from about 70%, with the government set to start accepting applications under this policy before March-end, according to domestic news agency IANS.  

This relaxation only applies to premium EVs priced at over $35,000 and requires investments totaling nearly $500 million and long-term plans to set up local manufacturing.

The EV policy represents a targeted move to appeal to Tesla’s business interests, signaling India’s readiness to support EV manufacturing, Ammar Master, a South Asia director of Automotive at GlobalData, told CNBC. 

“The Indian government has been proactive in its attempts to lure Tesla into establishing its manufacturing base in India,” he said. 

The automaker, however, faces several headwinds to breaking into the world’s third-largest auto market.

It’s unclear if Tesla’s entry makes sense under India’s investment scheme, with any plans the automaker might have likely to be rolled out slowly and in a measured way due to several entry barriers, Gupta and other analysts said. 

Price and commitment issues

‘Slow and measured’

Given the price and investment challenges, experts told CNBC that Tesla’s India foray will start with exporting cars to the market to test the waters first. 

“We expect Tesla’s entry into India to be slow and measured, given the low average price point in the market,” BNP Paribas said, noting that the company has plans to launch more affordable models later this year. 

Meanwhile, S&P Global Mobility’s Gupta said that Tesla will likely push India to tweak its EV tariff policy further, allowing it to start shipping to the country more easily before making any investment promises. 

Some local media sources in India have reported that government may further tweak the EV policy to attract Tesla considers the market. 

“Even if they commit to the current proposal, it will be after six months or so,” added Gupta.

However, while the Indian EV market remains small, getting a foothold there could be a valuable endeavor for Tesla as it looks for new markets amid intense competition with Chinese EV makers such as BYD. 

“With the current momentum, we project that Passenger BEV sales in India will reach 1 million units by 2030, accounting for 20% of total sales,” said GlobalData’s Ammar Master. 

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Register now: Applications open for the world’s top fintech companies of 2025 list

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Register now: Applications open for the world's top fintech companies of 2025 list

For the third year in a row, CNBC is working with market research firm Statista to list the world’s top financial technology companies.

Including startups, scaleups and established tech players, the top global fintech list aims to assess companies using an objective, key performance indicator-based methodology.

You can find out more information on the research project and methodology by clicking here.

Woman using digital tablet and credit card to do shopping.

John Lamb | Digital Vision | Getty Images

Applications are now open for companies to register their information for consideration by Statista’s researchers. To qualify, a company must focus primarily on developing innovative, technology-based financial products and services.

This year, we’re also digging deeper into the research to name the standout companies operating in the U.K. — the largest fintech market in Europe, as measured by the amount of funding raised.

Applications from companies headquartered in the U.K. will — in addition to being considered for the global fintech list — also be considered for a separate list of the U.K.’s top fintech companies. Firms do not need to fill in a separate application to be considered for the U.K. ranking.

Last year, fintech startups in the U.K. raised $3.6 billion in venture capital, ranking second worldwide and first in Europe for funding, according to industry trade body Innovate Finance. The country is also home to Revolut, Europe’s biggest fintech unicorn with a $45 billion valuation.

How to apply

Companies can submit their information for consideration by clicking here. The form, hosted by Statista, includes questions about a company’s business model and certain key performance indicators, including revenue growth and employee headcount.

The deadline for submissions is April 25, 2025.

If you have any questions about the lists or need assistance filling out the form, please reach out to Statista: topfintechs@statista.com.

Successful companies will be listed in the category that most closely reflects their business model. This year, insurance technology will be included as a category in the global fintech list. The other categories are payments, neobanking, digital assets, alternative financing, wealth technology, and enterprise fintech.

You can check out last year’s list here, which included well-known brands such as Mastercard and China’s Ant Group, global unicorns such as Brazilian digital lender Nubank and buy now, pay later firm Klarna, as well as smaller disruptors including payments platform Primer and investing app Stash.

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