Alibaba has bought a $590m stake in Chinese smartphone maker Meizu Technology, as it looks to find a way to improve take-up of its mobile operating system.

Meizu is a relatively small-scale player in the Chinese mobile market, trailing domestic firms Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei, as well as Apple and Samsung, with an estimated market share of 2%.

The e-commerce giant hopes to push its operating system through Meizu handsets, but faces stiff competition from Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS 8.

Meizu, meanwhile, hope that a close relationship with China’s largest e-commerce brand will help it grow share of the domestic market – as well as potentially grow internationally, given Alibaba’s burgeoning global business.

“The investment in Meizu represents a significant expansion of the Alibaba Group ecosystem and an important step in our overall mobile strategy as we strive to bring users a wider array of mobile offerings and experiences,” said Alibaba’s chief technology officer Jian Wang.

Alibaba last year broke all records for the largest-ever initial public offering – reaching a total of $25bn on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm, founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma, has a market value of $213bn.