Interview with Liu Hongqiang: Pioneering Network Research and Innovations at Alibaba Cloud

In January, the AMiner team launched the AI 2000 list to recognize the most influential AI scholars of the past decade; Liu Hongqiang, a senior technical expert at Alibaba Cloud, was selected and interviewed for this feature.

Liu’s academic path began at Tsinghua University’s Department of Electronic Engineering in 2003, continued with a master’s at the Tsinghua Network Center, and culminated with a Ph.D. from Yale University in 2014, where he received the ACM SIGCOMM Best Doctoral Paper award.

After a stint at a top overseas company, Liu joined Alibaba in 2017, quickly rising to lead the Alibaba Cloud Infrastructure Network R&D team. He spearheaded several high‑impact projects, including the HPCC congestion‑control protocol, an intent‑language‑driven ACL management system, and the NFC+ technology that extended NFC range from 20 cm to 3 m, all of which earned recognition at SIGCOMM.

In 2020, Liu’s team introduced XLINK, a multi‑path transmission protocol built on QUIC that intelligently selects and switches networks based on QoE feedback, positioning the work for future global standardization.

Liu emphasizes a “middle‑road” innovation approach—balancing the necessity of novel research with practical impact—guided by three core questions about research value, uniqueness, and execution steps.

Beyond technical achievements, Liu reflects on his 20‑year research journey, stressing the importance of continuous learning, creating new knowledge, and solving real‑world problems to sustain scientific enthusiasm.