File photo shows Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng. Credit: Xpeng
- Xpeng CEO joined Ant Group’s board, set to advise on AI strategy.
- He’s appointment carries special significance given his deep ties to Alibaba and Ant.
Alibaba-backed Ant Group has completed a reshuffle of its board, naming Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng as an independent director.
Ant disclosed the appointment on its website on Monday, June 22. The new independent directors also include Bai Chongen, dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management, and Tsang Shun-fu, former CEO of Deloitte China.
Laura Cha, former chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, and AI scholar Zhang Hongjiang both retained their seats.
After the reshuffle, Ant’s board keeps its nine-member size, with independent directors making up more than 50%.
The three new independent directors will join Cha and Zhang in advising and overseeing Ant’s AI strategy at the board level, according to several local media reports.
The Xpeng CEO’s appointment carries special significance. He has deep ties to Alibaba.
Ant grew out of Alipay, which was originally created to address trust issues in Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao transactions. Alibaba holds about a third of Ant’s shares through subsidiaries, making it one of the largest outside shareholders.
Mr. He was a co-founder of UCWeb, the parent company of UC Browser. In 2014, Alibaba fully acquired UCWeb for about $4.35 billion, and he joined Alibaba as part of the deal.
During his time at Alibaba, he held senior posts including president of the Alibaba Mobile Business Group and chairman of Alibaba Games. He formally departed in 2017 to run Xpeng full time.
Alibaba subsequently became an important strategic investor in Xpeng. When the carmaker listed in the US in 2020, Alibaba’s Taobao China held a 14.4% stake, making it the largest outside shareholder.
The relationship between the two companies has loosened in recent years, however. Since late 2023, Alibaba has trimmed its Xpeng holdings on multiple occasions.
As the reductions progressed, Alibaba executives also gradually exited Xpeng’s board. Alibaba has previously said it would continue to support Xpeng’s technology development at the cloud and AI infrastructure level.
Now, Mr. He returns to the core of the Alibaba ecosystem in the role of independent director. The arrangement highlights continued collaboration between the two sides in AI.
Xpeng has long placed autonomous driving at its core. Its electrical and electronic architecture is regarded as among the closest to Tesla’s of any Chinese EV startup. He’s experience in deploying AI may bring a cross-industry perspective to Ant.
Xpeng CEO said the move is a crucial step in the company’s transition from a smart car company to a physical AI company.
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