About Joseph Tsai
Joseph Tsai, Executive Chairman of Alibaba, has been active in public engagements discussing the company's AI strategy and international partnerships. At VivaTech 2026, Tsai described the shift from conversational chatbots to autonomous AI agents as a "pivotal inflection point," stating that AI is "producing units of human intelligence and human productivity" and that the total addressable market for AI is roughly half of global GDP. He also said that Alibaba's AI has "moved beyond the initial investment phase and progressed to commercialization at scale." During the company's March quarter and full fiscal year 2026 earnings call, Tsai reported that AI-related product revenue for the Cloud Intelligence Group had surpassed 35.8 billion RMB, accounting for 30% of the group's external revenue, and that the company expects this to cross the 50% threshold within a year. He noted that Alibaba is the only AI cloud provider in China capable of delivering self-developed AI chips at scale, which he described as a structural advantage.
In June 2024, Tsai hosted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou, where multiple memorandums of understanding and an AI-drafted agreement were signed. Tsai praised the Prime Minister's "Shehbaz Speed," saying the partnership would benefit not only Pakistan and China but also contribute to global peace. He also commented on his basketball team ownership, noting that the New York Liberty have three French players and the Brooklyn Nets have one, calling France "the most important non-American influence in the NBA and WNBA."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Joseph Tsai's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Interviewer0:00
Suits aside, welcome. I just want to talk to you about Barclays Center and the role that completes a hole for the team. Tina Charles, your star player, was asked about this and said, 'As long as it reflects that we eventually ended up playing at Barclays, that's the big thing.' I understand in your conversation with Keen he talked about the fact that you know, get all the Barclays and so here's how to make that promise. But in order to number one, if you're committed to playing the part, should you become the owner of Barclays Center and if there's a pathway for that happening as soon as 2020?
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Joseph Tsai0:44
What I'm committed to is to increase the fan base of the New York Liberty. Where they're playing now in Westchester County is not ideal because the size of the venue is limited to about 3,000 seats, plus it's a place where it's kind of hard to get to, not that accessible to the fans. That's why I said we want to improve that situation. I'm exploring all possibilities. If there's an opportunity for the team to play more games at Barclays Center, I would definitely welcome it, but it's not entirely my decision. Obviously, we had a very good relationship through the Nets with Barclays Center and the ownership of Barclays Center, and hopefully we could work out some things where the team could get better exposure in bigger venues. Barclays Center, I think, is a perfect venue for the New York Liberty.
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Interviewer2:03
Are you happy with Samuel as well? Personally, I am environment is really super develop our tourism company itself. An issue is confined. Superman time you go into another channel 13 so he doesn't see us working or do it as is normally a factor. In fact, elections if you have I see, hoo-boy, you can do it secret. I've battled in general good Holly talked about life is that like it was recently.
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Jay McManus2:52
I'm Jay McManus from the Earth Daily News. I have a question for both of you, which is about the idea of valuable sports, in particular for you, Mr. Tsai, the idea of investigative sports for any economic value, and then the growth of women's sports in China and what that was like.
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Joseph Tsai3:37
As an owner, the most important thing for me what I can do for the Liberty is to build up the fan base. That's the foundation of everything. If you have more fans, then your media value and your sponsorship rights value increase. That will bring more value to the whole team. And then, you know, when those values are increased, just like we've seen in the NBA, the NBA today gets more revenues from national TV and sponsorships and things like that instead of just selling tickets. But those values increase and everybody benefits because then there will be more economics to spread around that will benefit the players as well.
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Kee4:42
I think we're here for this exhibition game. I think the start of season is always a special time on the WNBA and for the things that Mr. Wong spoke about and Mr. Tsai, the Liberty and the community representing cultural diversity, inclusion, and equality. These were words that they've already really described, and I think that's something we've always been representative of and it's something we're really proud to celebrate and to kick off the season in that way. So if this is a demonstration of what's to come, that's something that will continue to do throughout the season in three years to come. The support and the investment as Mr. Tsai said, tickets will sell, the sponsors will come, and we're starting to see some of that, but it's already.
