Alibaba Group announced plans to invest US$53 billion (A$83.5 billion) into cloud computing and artifical intelligence (AI) infrastructure over the next three years.
The announcement comes as Alibaba shares soar to a three-year high after announcing better-than-expected quarterly results.
During the earnings call, CEO Eddie Wu emphasised that cloud computing is Alibaba’s clearest revenue driver in AI, with the company's revenue growing 11% year-over-year, with AI-related product revenue posting triple-digit growth for the sixth consecutive quarter.
Wu also described AI as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) as the company’s primary long-term objective.
Other Chinese companies have also capitalised on AI, including the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, who earned over 150 billion yuan (A$32.6 billion) in capital expenditure for this year, which will be centred on AI according to Reuters.
At the time of writing, Alibaba Group (HKG: 9988) shares are trading at 135.70 yuan, a 2.02% decrease from the previous close of 138.90 yuan. The company’s market cap is 2.76 trillion yuan.
