A trillion parameters, and this time no download
Alibaba previewed its largest model on Monday. The notable part is that the company built on open weights kept this one closed.
On 8 September 2025 Alibaba previewed Qwen3-Max, its largest model so far at over a trillion parameters. Unlike most of the Qwen line, it is not published as an open-weight download.
This is the mirror image of the OpenAI story from 5 August, and the two together describe where the industry has actually landed.
The convergence nobody announced
OpenAI built a closed business and has now published open weights. Alibaba built an open reputation and is keeping its largest model closed.
Neither is a reversal of principle. Both are the same commercial logic arriving from opposite directions: publish the models that win you developers, keep the one at the frontier. Within a year, essentially every major provider will offer both, and the « open versus closed » framing that dominated 2024 will be a description of product tiers rather than of companies.
Why this is good for a buyer
Because it removes a decision that used to be irreversible. Choosing a provider no longer means choosing a philosophy about openness; it means choosing a supplier who can offer you a hosted model today and a downloadable one if your requirements change.
The 6 August post made this point about OpenAI. September confirms it from the other side.
What to do with the trillion-parameter number
Nothing. Parameter counts have stopped being informative, and this blog has said so since the Llama post in April.
What a Swiss SME should take from September’s releases is narrower: ask your provider what they can offer you in a European data centre, and whether a self-hostable option exists in their catalogue should you ever need one. Those two answers are worth more than any capability comparison you will read this month.