Alibaba Cloud vs Together AI

Alibaba Cloud Recognized as a Notable Vendor in Forrester's 'The Web Application Protection Platforms Landscape, Q3 2026'

Alibaba Cloud has been recognized as a Notable Vendor in Forrester's Q3 2026 Web Application Protection Platforms Landscape, highlighting its robust web security capabilities.

China's Ulanqab Data Centers: Who Pays for the Grid Wait

In Ulanqab, a Chinese AI data center hub, grid infrastructure is still under construction, causing delays between completed data centers and their power connection. Operators like GDS invest before service begins and collect no fees until billing starts. The Financial Times reports about 15 GW of committed capacity, while Goldman Sachs counted 12.5 GW. Data centers used 3.27 billion kWh in H1 2026, up 89.5% year-over-year. Power costs in Ulanqab are about Rmb 0.358 per kWh, much cheaper than Beijing's Rmb 0.80. However, substation construction can take three to five years, far longer than the 12 months to build a data center hall. The article examines the financial risk operators carry during these waits.

• About 15 GW of data center capacity has been committed in Ulanqab, according to the Financial Times.
• Goldman Sachs counted 12.5 GW of operating and planned capacity in June, up from 3.3 GW in July 2025.
• Data centers in Ulanqab used 3.27 billion kWh in H1 2026, up 89.5% year-over-year.

Joe Tsai: Open Source Is Europe's AI Opportunity

Alibaba Cloud's blog features a new post by Joe Tsai discussing open source as Europe's AI opportunity, alongside other new posts on QwenWork, Qoder, and AgentCore.

Introducing Together Link: Run open models inside the harness you already use

Together AI announces Together Link, a new product that allows running open models within existing harnesses, alongside new research blog posts on ThunderKittens for NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72, ThunderAgent, and ICML 2026 participation.

Open or Closed AI: Founders' Choices at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

The article previews upcoming discussions at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 (Oct 13-15, San Francisco) on AI model strategy. It highlights how startups increasingly use multiple models—open and proprietary—for different tasks, weighing cost, performance, and flexibility. Sessions feature leaders from Together AI, Pathway, Oumi, Nvidia, and Ricursive Intelligence. Topics include whether to build, customize, or rent AI models, optimizing AI hardware (chip design), and trade-offs between frontier APIs (like OpenAI, Google) and open-weight models. The article emphasizes that model choice shapes product differentiation, infrastructure needs, and long-term business viability. It's a conference promotion with substantive insights on AI architecture decisions.

• TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 takes place Oct 13-15 at Moscone West, San Francisco.
• The conference features 200+ sessions, 250+ speakers, and 300+ exhibiting startups.
• Sessions cover multi-model strategies, custom model development, and AI-designed hardware.

Together AI Product Team Shares AI-Native Workflow Stack

Together AI's product team, including CPO Charles Zedlewski and PMs Necoline Hubner and Pavneet Ahluwalia, outlined their AI-native product development stack in a podcast. The stack comprises four components: a shared context repository accessible by any AI harness, skills for feature research and PRD writing, an orchestrator for leadership, and agent evals. The team emphasizes collective productivity over individual gains, using multiple models like GLM and Kimi instead of relying solely on Anthropic. They validate products through agent-based tests, checking if AI agents can complete tasks using their documentation and API. The article also highlights Together AI's $8.3 billion valuation from its Series C round.

• Together AI is valued at $8.3 billion.
• Together AI's product team uses a four-component AI-native stack: shared context repo, skills, orchestrator, and agent evals.
• The team uses multiple AI models (e.g., GLM, Kimi) rather than only Anthropic's models.