Alibaba's stock is down because the US government is about to add it to a Pentagon blacklist. This blacklist flags Chinese companies the Pentagon believes are helping China's military.​ It's officially called the Section 1260H list.​ The Pentagon has been reviewing Alibaba for months.​ Reports say the formal addition could happen as soon as today. Being placed on this list doesn't mean Alibaba is banned from the US. It also doesn't directly impose sanctions.​ Think of it more like a giant government warning label on the company.​ It tells American businesses and investors that Alibaba may have ties to China's military. Alibaba has denied the claims, saying there is no basis for the designation.​ What makes this bigger is that Alibaba isn't just an online shopping company.​ It's one of China's leading artificial intelligence developers. Its cloud division has been aggressively expanding into AI.​ Its Qwen AI models now rival some of the best Western competitors. AI is what's known as a dual use technology. ...