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Google Cloud plans LA28 Games partnership, Alibaba Cloud teams up with NBA China

Google is partnering with the LA28 Games across Cloud, Search, and Gemini.

In a similar deal, Chinese cloud provider Alibaba plans to support NBA China's operations.

Google Cloud will be the official cloud provider for the LA28 Games and Olympics. The company said that AI will be used to analyze workouts for Team USA athletes, provide real-time insights, and measure in NBCUniversal’s coverage.

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Gemini Enterprise and Google Workspace will be used by LA28 Games organizers for planning and logistics across more than 70,000 volunteers and employees.

Outside of Cloud, Google will provide Olympics updates on Search and Gemini, as well as short-form content on YouTube.

The partnership includes the Paralympic Winter Games, which are set to be held in March 2026 in Milano Cortina, Italy. The 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be held in July and August 2028, in LA.

It is set to be the first Olympic Games to be held in the US in 26 years, since the 1996 edition in Atlanta, Georgia.

Over in China, Alibaba Cloud plans to develop applications to support live game viewing on NBA China fixtures.

"Our collaboration with Alibaba Cloud reflects our commitment to using the latest technology to engage the hundreds of millions of NBA fans in China in new and creative ways," Mark Tatum, NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO, said.

"We look forward to working with Alibaba Cloud to transform how fans across the country watch and experience the game in the years to come."

Alibaba said that it will develop an AI model for NBA China based on Alibaba's Qwen series of foundational models and develop a 360 replay solution.

"AI and cloud technologies are enablers of connection — between player and fan, brand and consumer, global vision and local culture," Joe Tsai, chairman of Alibaba Group, said.

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"By collaborating with NBA China and introducing Alibaba's latest innovations, we are here to excite NBA fans through the enablement of exceptional experiences that they've never seen before."

Tsai, the second-largest individual shareholder of Alibaba, is also the owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, along with the WNBA's New York Liberty, and several other sports franchises.

The Nets are set to play the Phoenix Suns at The Venetian Arena in Macau from this Friday, as part of an event known as the NBA China Games 2025. The official sponsor of that is Taobao 88VIP, Alibaba's membership-based retail section.

China is the NBA's largest overseas market, with hundreds of millions of fans.