Alibaba Group will provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure for the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, supporting event operations and leaving behind a national cloud platform for the country, RaveNewsOnline reports.
The technology company is working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee to support the Games, which began on 31 October and will run until November 13.
The competition is the first time an Olympic event will take place on African soil.
Under the arrangement, Alibaba Cloud will provide a private cloud infrastructure built on its Apsara Stack platform. The system will host key digital services, including ticket sales and e-visa processing, while supporting access control across the competition venues.
The ticketing system will manage online purchases and entry for more than one million tickets. It will cover all seven competition venues and the official Festival Site, with infrastructure designed to handle periods of high demand.
However, the arrangement doesn’t stop at the sporting event. Alibaba will hand over the private cloud infrastructure to Senegal after the Games, allowing the country to use it as a national cloud platform.
This will give local businesses and developers access to Alibaba’s cloud and AI capabilities, including its Qwen family of open-weight models.
The company says Qwen has 460 models and more than three billion downloads globally. It also supports over 200 languages, including African languages such as Wolof and Kongo.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry said Alibaba’s technology would help organisers manage the Games and connect audiences worldwide.
“Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games are the first Olympic event taking place on African soil. I’m delighted that our Worldwide Olympic Partner, Alibaba, is helping bring this historic moment to life.
Through its cloud and AI technology, Alibaba is helping the Games run more smoothly and bringing fans around the world closer to the action.”
Dakar 2026 organising committee president Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye said the technology would improve the experience for athletes, visitors and audiences while strengthening Senegal’s digital capabilities.
“We want Dakar 2026 to feel ambitious, welcoming and unmistakably Senegalese. The right technology will help us run the Games smoothly and give young athletes, visitors and audiences a connected experience from the moment they arrive.
“It will also leave us with stronger digital capabilities to support future events and public services.”
Alibaba is also using AI to bring elements of Senegalese culture into the competition.
For the Opening Ceremony, the organising committee presented a one-minute video created with Alibaba’s WAN video generation model. The production centred on African drumming and featured 100 participants from the Dakar 2026 Learning Academy.
The participants, drawn from different parts of Africa and the world, appeared together in a virtual drum performance.
Visitors to the official Festival Site can also use an Alibaba-hosted kiosk to generate short videos of themselves playing the Senegalese Sabar Drum.
An AI-powered agent will answer questions about the competition and the history of the Youth Olympic Games.
The activities draw on Senegal’s concept of Teranga, a Wolof word associated with hospitality. Alibaba says the experience will encourage interaction between athletes, spectators, media and local communities.
Toby Xu, Alibaba Group chief financial officer, said cloud computing and AI were changing how sports organisations deliver services and engage audiences.
“Sport is now a truly digital experience, and audiences expect more ways to follow and engage with the action. Cloud and AI capabilities are helping the industry respond by making services easier to scale and adapt.
“As a Worldwide Olympic Partner for nearly a decade, Alibaba has consistently helped drive the Olympic Movement forward-moving from digitalisation to intelligence through technological innovation.
“For Dakar 2026, we look forward to seeing how these technologies continue to shape the future of the Olympic Movement and beyond.”
Beyond the Games’ technology requirements, Alibaba is funding initiatives focused on sports participation and digital skills among young people in Senegal.
Through Alibaba Philanthropy, the company has extended its Panda Pack Project to the country. The initiative will provide sports equipment packages to the Jeunesse en Jeux engagement programme.
The project aims to reach more than 350,000 children across 850 schools, giving them better access to sporting activities.
Alibaba Cloud Tech Academy is also offering free online cloud computing training to Senegalese residents under 35. The programme has attracted more than 10,000 registrations.
Dakar 2026 brings together 2,700 athletes aged 17 and under, competing in 35 sports across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.
Alibaba’s involvement builds on its previous work with the Olympic Movement at Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026. The company has served as a Worldwide Olympic Partner for nearly a decade.
