Physix Frontier · News Briefing Card (IT Home · Oct 16, 2026)

Alibaba Cloud to retire virtual digital human product in three phases

KEY FACTS

Alibaba Cloud announced that its virtual digital human product will be retired due to a product strategy adjustment.
New purchases will stop on November 30, 2026, and existing customers can continue using the service until their subscriptions expire.
Renewals and version updates for existing customers will stop on May 31, 2027.
The service will be fully shut down on November 30, 2027, with the console, ticketing, and refund services taken offline at the same time.
The company recommends users migrate to digital human products from Ant Lingjing, Xiangxin, and Yizhi Intelligence available on its cloud marketplace.

KEY DATA

November 30, 2026New purchase stop date

May 31, 2027Renewal and version update stop date

November 30, 2027Full service shutdown date

PHYSIX OBSERVATION

The digital human platform built in-house by Tongyi Lab is being replaced by third-party products on its own cloud marketplace, showing that big tech is shifting from heavy in-house investment to ecosystem distribution in the digital human race. For existing customers, a one-year buffer is not generous, and migration costs and data continuity are real problems; for the industry, competition at the digital human tool layer has entered a consolidation phase, and the window for small and mid-sized vendors may actually be opening.

Source: IT Home report