Alibaba to Invest Over $52 Billion in AI Over Next 3 Years

Alibaba announced on Monday that it plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan ($52.44 billion) in its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure over the next three years. This investment exceeds the company’s spending in AI and cloud computing over the past decade. The Chinese e-commerce giant reported revenue of 280.15 billion yuan for the three months ended December 31, marginally ahead of analysts’ estimates.

Alibaba has emerged as a leader in China’s AI race, attracting investors with strategic business deals. Its stock has risen more than 68% this year, as of the last close. Other Chinese firms, such as ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, are also investing heavily in the sector, with plans to earmark over 150 billion yuan in capital expenditure for this year, much of which will be focused on AI.

($1 = 7.2470 Chinese yuan renminbi)