On the afternoon of April 3rd, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund released an interview video between its Chief Investment Officer Nicolai Tangen and Alibaba co-founder and Chairman of the Board Cai Chongxin. In the interview, Cai Chongxin shared his personal growth experience and work experience at Alibaba, as well as the challenges he currently faces and the measures he has taken to address them. Cai Chongxin admitted, "In the past few years, Alibaba has fallen behind, and Taotian Group's problem lies in neglecting user experience. The entire group has undergone restructuring for this." In addition, he also talked about China's future development and views on artificial intelligence (AI).
In the past few years, Alibaba has fallen behind, and Taotian's problem lies in neglecting user experience
When it comes to what is the most severe competition Alibaba is facing at this time, Cai Chongxin said, "When we examine internally and reflect on the situation of the past few years, we find that we are lagging behind because we have forgotten who our true customers are. Our customers are users who use our application to shop, and we have not given them the best experience. So to some extent, we are a bit self reliant and have not really focused on where we can provide value." "In the past few years, Alibaba has fallen behind, and the problem with Taotian Group is to ignore user experience. The entire group has undergone restructuring for this."
"The first thing we do is admit our mistakes, and the second thing is to reorganize our personnel and change the organizational structure that aligns with the strategy." He also said that he has a good "partner" with Wu Yongming, "I am the chairman, but I work with a CEO who is 12 years younger than me. He is very, very focused on users, focusing on products, interfaces, and user experience, which is the most important for us."
China will continue to become a world manufacturing powerhouse
Cai Chongxin also believes in the interview that China will not lose its position as the world's factory. In terms of economic size, labor force scale, and quality, countries such as Mexico and Vietnam cannot be compared to China. "The population of China is still very large. The Chinese people are hardworking and have a very good education system. We have a well-educated and skilled workforce."
Cai Chongxin stated that although China is currently lagging behind American companies like OpenAI in the development of artificial intelligence, China is striving to catch up. The current gap between China and the world's top LLM language models is about 2 years. At present, the chips stockpiled by Chinese companies can still support the training needs of LLM for the next 18 months. In the long run, China has the ability to manufacture high-end GPUs on its own.
"Alibaba is one of the most robust companies in the world and currently one of the largest cloud computing companies in China." He also pointed out that in terms of compliance structure, Alibaba is one of the most compliant companies in the world. Alibaba has transported many overseas goods to China, and a successful Alibaba is beneficial to the world and global trade.
Suggest young people to master data science, psychology, etc
When it comes to the career development of young people, Cai Chongxin suggests mastering one or two strengths, such as specialized knowledge in specific fields such as programming, data science, psychology, etc., to become the top 10% of the population. He believes that these fields will have great potential in the future.
Cai Chongxin also used his tax law expertise as an example to illustrate how professional skills can help him achieve excellent results in tax planning and other areas. In his view, becoming an expert in a certain field is the only way to earn respect. "Learn about data science and psychology. I think you have all the tools you need to succeed in life."
Information
On June 20, 2023, Alibaba announced that Cai Chongxin would serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Holding Group; Wu Yongming has been appointed as the CEO of Alibaba Holding Group, while continuing to serve as the Chairman of Taotian Group.
According to data, Cai Chongxin joined Alibaba Group in 1999 as one of the founders and has been a member of the board of directors since its establishment. He served as Chief Financial Officer until May 2013 and Executive Vice Chairman until September 2023, currently serving as Chairman of Alibaba Group. Cai Chongxin is one of the founding partners of Alibaba's partnership system. He is also the Chairman of Cainiao Group, a Director of Taotian Group, and a Director of Ant Group, an affiliated company of Alibaba Group.
In addition, as of the end of 2023, the market value of Norwegian sovereign wealth funds' holdings in Alibaba was $3.5 billion.