Alibaba Group's (BABA, Financial) shares on the Hong Kong stock market surged by 5.5%, which influenced its U.S. pre-market shares to rise over 4%. This increase was driven by market rumors suggesting that Alibaba plans to invest $1 billion to acquire a 10% stake in DeepSeek, valuing the company at $10 billion.
In response to these rumors, Alibaba Group's Vice President Yan Qiao clarified that the information circulating about Alibaba's investment in DeepSeek is false. Despite this denial, some analysts believe that there might still be potential for future collaboration and exchanges between the two companies in terms of technology and business.