Alibaba Taps Liu Da Yiheng to Lead Qwen Ahead of Yunqi: what are the key facts?

On September 21, Alibaba appointed Liu Da Yiheng, a former Huawei "Genius Youth" program recruit, as head of the Qwen large-model project.

Alibaba Taps Liu Da Yiheng to Lead Qwen Ahead of Yunqi: what are the key facts?

Liu Da Yiheng holds a PhD from Sichuan University and has led Qwen pretraining since joining Alibaba in 2021, making this an internal promotion.

Alibaba Taps Liu Da Yiheng to Lead Qwen Ahead of Yunqi: what are the key facts?

In the previous six months, Qwen technical lead Lin Junyang departed and supervisor Zhou Jingren moved to chief scientist, leaving the management post vacant.

Alibaba Taps Liu Da Yiheng to Lead Qwen Ahead of Yunqi: what are the key facts?

Qwen 3.8 Max currently ranks seventh globally on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

Physix Frontier · News Briefing Card (enbrief · Sep 22, 2026)

Alibaba Taps Liu Da Yiheng to Lead Qwen Ahead of Yunqi

KEY FACTS

On September 21, Alibaba appointed Liu Da Yiheng, a former Huawei "Genius Youth" program recruit, as head of the Qwen large-model project.
Liu Da Yiheng holds a PhD from Sichuan University and has led Qwen pretraining since joining Alibaba in 2021, making this an internal promotion.
In the previous six months, Qwen technical lead Lin Junyang departed and supervisor Zhou Jingren moved to chief scientist, leaving the management post vacant.
Qwen 3.8 Max currently ranks seventh globally on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

PHYSIX OBSERVATION

Alibaba's AI organization is shifting from reliance on star individuals toward building an internal talent pipeline, aiming to boost stability but weakening its rallying appeal. The new leader's debut coincides with intensifying open-source competition; if the Yunqi Conference delivers only a routine iterative release, it will struggle to quell market doubts that talent attrition is capping the model's ceiling. This personnel move is not just a backfill but a stress test of Alibaba's long-term R&D cadence and team cohesion.

Source: enbrief original report ↗