Chinese e-commerce and AI giant Alibaba Group Holding has set up a high-level technology committee led by CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, as part of a broader restructuring to sharpen its focus on artificial intelligence amid intensifying competition.

The Hangzhou-based company formed the Alibaba Group Technology Committee as part of its efforts to accelerate AI development, according to an internal letter from Wu to staff on Wednesday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

The committee brings together several senior executives, including Zhou Jingren, the former chief technology officer of Alibaba Cloud, who will serve as its chief AI architect. Group CTO Wu Zeming will focus on the company’s business technology and AI inference platforms, after previously leading its food delivery operations.

In parallel, Li Feifei has been appointed to lead Alibaba Cloud’s technology and AI infrastructure, while also taking on the role of cloud CTO, effective Wednesday.

Alibaba has also upgraded its Tongyi Laboratory – the developer of its Qwen series of large language models – into a dedicated Tongyi Large Model Business Unit, led by Zhou. The move formalises the lab’s role at the centre of the company’s model development efforts.