Alibaba Establishes New Division 'Token Foundry,' Merging Two Major Model Teams to Advance AI Commercialization
Claire Weston
Alibaba has launched Token Foundry, merging Tongyi Lab and Future Life Lab under CEO Eddie Wu — a clear signal that the group is unifying its AI strategy and accelerating commercialization.
What exactly does Token Foundry bring together?
The new unit places Tongyi Lab and Future Life Lab under one roof, reporting directly to group CEO Eddie Wu.
Tongyi Lab is Alibaba's core large-model team; Future Life Lab previously sat inside the Taobao-Tmall group, focusing on video and open-world AI models.
This means → two AI teams that once operated on separate business lines now share one reporting chain and one resource pool.
What has Future Life Lab built so far?
The lab developed Happy Horse, a video-generation model, and Happy Oyster, an open-world AI model.
It was overseen by Taobao-Tmall chief scientist Zheng Bo; Zhang Di rejoined Alibaba in November 2025 to lead the lab, reporting to Zheng.
In plain terms = Zhang Di previously led development of Kuaishou's video-generation model Kling — his return signals Alibaba is serious about catching up in video generation.
Where does Zhou Jingren fit now?
As part of the restructuring, Zhou Jingren becomes Alibaba's chief scientist and heads the newly created Alibaba AI Future Research Institute.
The institute will focus on frontier AI research and next-generation breakthroughs, splitting cleanly from Token Foundry's commercialization mandate.
This reflects a deliberate two-track design: research stays in the institute, product delivery stays in Token Foundry — each with its own leader.
What signal does this restructuring send?
A CEO-supervised, standalone unit means AI has risen to Alibaba's top strategic priority.
According to the *South China Morning Post*, citing people familiar with the matter, the merger aims to advance AI commercialization and unify the group's AI strategy.
This means → Alibaba is no longer letting AI capabilities sit scattered across business groups — it is consolidating them into one pipeline from model to product.
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