MiniMax raised from US$ 115 million to US$ 300 million the limit for purchasing Alibaba Cloud services in 2026, after consuming 65.7% of the original cap in just the first half. The revision follows the growth in demand for infrastructure needed to train artificial intelligence models, run inference, and process a growing volume of API calls.
The company also expanded the limits projected for the coming years. The cap for 2027 went from US$ 125 million to US$ 400 million, while the 2028 cap jumped from US$ 135 million to US$ 500 million. The figures represent maximum transaction limits and do not mean the entire amount will necessarily be used.
In the first six months of 2026, MiniMax's purchases from Alibaba Cloud reached US$ 75.6 million. The amount nearly equals the US$ 75.9 million spent during all of 2025 and underscores the speed at which the need for computing capacity is increasing.
In 2024, these transactions had totaled US$ 10 million. In 2023, they were just US$ 3.1 million.
Training and inference pressure infrastructure
In the document sent to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, MiniMax links the expansion of the agreement to three main fronts: more computing capacity for training and updating models, infrastructure for inference with a large simultaneous volume of requests, and additional investments in security and protection of cloud systems.
The company says that the growth in the customer base and the volume of API calls is increasing the need for high-performance servers and data center services capable of processing a large number of simultaneous requests.
The expectation is that a relevant portion of future research and development spending will remain tied to the procurement of cloud infrastructure.
This movement is already reflected in the company's accounts. Research and development expenses reached US$ 296.9 million in the first half, up 138.8% year over year.
MiniMax attributed the growth mainly to the increase in spending on cloud services used in training and evolving its artificial intelligence models.
In 2025, the company had spent US$ 252.8 million on research and development. Of that total, US$ 75.9 million was allocated to Alibaba Cloud services, equivalent to about 30% of R&D expenses that year.
MiniMax also recently strengthened its financial capacity to support this expansion. In July, the company completed a share placement and an issuance of convertible bonds.
About 80% of the net proceeds raised, equivalent to US$ 1.62 billion, are earmarked for artificial intelligence infrastructure and research and development through the end of 2027.
According to calculations presented by the company itself, the plan corresponds to approximately an additional US$ 92.6 million per month in research and development-related expenses during the period in question.
Alibaba also expands use of MiniMax models
The relationship between the two companies works both ways. In addition to buying infrastructure from Alibaba Cloud, MiniMax provides its own models and API services to Alibaba Group businesses.
The cap for these operations in 2026 was raised from US$ 650,000 to US$ 7.5 million.
For 2027, the limit went from US$ 1 million to US$ 22 million. In 2028, it rose from US$ 1.5 million to US$ 33 million.
As of June, API-related transactions had already reached US$ 501,700, equivalent to 77.2% of the limit originally projected for the entire year.
MiniMax expects to expand the use of its audio and voice models in Alibaba services, integrate text, reasoning, and logic models into the group's software ecosystem, and develop specific solutions for different sectors.
Revenue soars along with API volume
The infrastructure expansion comes amid strong commercial growth at MiniMax.
Revenue reached US$ 116.6 million in the first half of 2026, an increase of 283.1% compared with the US$ 30.4 million recorded in the same period last year. The first-half result already surpassed the US$ 79 million generated during all of 2025.
The greatest acceleration came from the Open Platform and other enterprise services based on artificial intelligence. Revenue in this area advanced 703.1%, from US$ 9.2 million to US$ 73.9 million, and came to represent 63.4% of total revenue.
The company attributed the growth to the increase in the number of paying customers, the expansion of API calls, and the adoption of its token plans.
AI products aimed directly at consumers, including Hailuo AI, generated another US$ 42.6 million, up 100.9%.
The company also reported that its products and services are already used in more than 230 countries and regions, with 60.8% of half-year revenue coming from outside mainland China.
As Alibaba Group indirectly holds approximately 11.36% of MiniMax through affiliated companies, the agreements are classified as related-party transactions under Hong Kong Stock Exchange rules. The cap revisions still depend on approval by MiniMax's independent shareholders.
