Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares experienced a significant surge on Wednesday, reaching levels unseen since 2021, buoyed by announcements of intensified investment in artificial intelligence and the unveiling of new AI products and updates. This surge reflects growing investor confidence in Alibaba’s strategic pivot towards AI-driven growth.
The company’s shares jumped over 6%, pushing year-to-date gains above 107%, showcasing a remarkable recovery and renewed market enthusiasm. The surge can be attributed to a confluence of factors, including positive sentiment surrounding the broader tech sector, encouraging economic data emanating from China, and, most significantly, Alibaba’s renewed commitment to AI.
At Alibaba Cloud’s annual flagship technology conference, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu announced plans to further increase spending on AI models and infrastructure development, building upon the previously announced 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) investment over three years. This significant capital commitment underscores Alibaba’s ambition to become a dominant player in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
“We are vigorously advancing a three-year, 380 billion [yuan] AI infrastructure initiative with plans to sustain and further increase our investment according to our strategic vision in anticipation of the [artificial superintelligence] era,” Wu stated. The focus on “artificial superintelligence,” or ASI, signals that Alibaba is not simply aiming for incremental improvements in existing AI capabilities but is targeting transformative advancements that could reshape industries.
So-called ‘artificial superintelligence’ refers to AI that would hypothetically surpass the power and intelligence of the human brain, with the hypothetical benchmark becoming a growing focus of major AI companies.
In addition to increased investment, Alibaba officially unveiled the latest iteration of its Qwen large language models – the Qwen3-Max – alongside a suite of updates to its existing AI product portfolio. This reflects Alibaba’s commitment to research and development, and rapid deployment of cutting-edge AI technologies.
Wu emphasized Alibaba Cloud’s strategic positioning as a “full-stack AI service provider,” offering comprehensive computing power for both training and deploying large AI models via its extensive data center infrastructure. This vertical integration gives Alibaba a distinct advantage in the AI race, enabling it to control crucial resources and optimize performance across the entire AI development lifecycle.
“The cumulative investment in global AI in the next five years will exceed $4 trillion, and this is the largest investment in computing power and research and development in history,” he added. This projection further validates Alibaba’s strategic pivot towards AI and highlights the immense economic opportunity that lies ahead. The company’s aggressive investment strategy, coupled with its technological prowess and market reach, positions Alibaba as a key player in shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
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