Alibaba to invest $53-B in AI, cloud computing over next three years

Chinese tech giant Alibaba announced Monday that it will invest more than $50 billion in artificial intelligence and cloud computing over the next three years, following a recent meeting between co-founder Jack Ma and President Xi Jinping.

Alibaba, which operates some of China’s largest online shopping platforms, has seen its stock price rise to three-year highs as investors flock to Chinese technology stocks. This surge follows strong sales growth reported by the Hangzhou-based company last week, signaling a potential recovery for the sector after years of regulatory pressure.

The company plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) in AI and cloud computing infrastructure, according to a company statement. Alibaba emphasized that the move reflects its commitment to long-term technological innovation and a focus on AI-driven growth.

The statement did not detail how the company would allocate the funds or what specific projects would be supported.

It did add that the investment would exceed its total AI and cloud spending over the past decade.

Alibaba last week reported an eight percent bump in revenue for the three months through December, beating estimates to reach 280 billion yuan — and triggering a 14 percent surge in its Hong Kong shares on Friday.

CEO Eddie Wu said last week that the quarterly results "demonstrated substantial progress in (Alibaba's) 'user-first, AI-driven' strategies and the re-accelerated growth of our core businesses".

The company and its industry peers endured years of dampened investor confidence after Beijing launched an aggressive regulatory crackdown on the tech sector in 2020.

But they have been riding higher in recent months, buoyed by the launch of a chatbot by Chinese startup DeepSeek that has upended the AI industry.

The turnaround comes as the world's second-largest economy continues to battle sluggish consumption and persistent woes in the property sector.

At a rare meeting with business luminaries last week, Xi hailed the private sector and said the current economic problems were "surmountable" — a move widely interpreted as a show of support for big tech.

Ma remains an influential figure despite no longer being an Alibaba executive and shunning the limelight since authorities brought down affiliate Ant Group's high-stakes IPO in 2020.

His inclusion in the meeting hinted at the billionaire magnate's potential public rehabilitation following the tangle with regulators.