Alibaba to invest $53 Billion in Cloud and AI Infrastructure marking its largest investment in the sector.
Alibaba Group announced on Monday its plans to invest over 380 billion yuan (approximately 53 billion U.S. dollars) in developing cloud and AI hardware infrastructure over the next three years. This move aims to leverage the rapid expansion of the AI industry.
The announced investment surpasses Alibaba’s total spending on cloud and AI infrastructure over the past decade. It also represents the largest private-sector investment ever made by a Chinese company in this domain.
This decision comes as China’s AI industry experiences unprecedented growth. The announcement follows a recent symposium on private enterprises attended by top Chinese leaders on February 17.
According to Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu, the rapid progress of AI has exceeded expectations, and China’s tech industry holds immense potential. He emphasized that Alibaba is fully committed to accelerating AI and cloud infrastructure development to foster industry-wide growth.
Alibaba believes this significant investment will strengthen industry confidence and demonstrates its long-term vision for AI and cloud computing.
On Thursday, Alibaba reported its highest quarterly revenue growth in over a year, driven by strong cloud computing and AI-related earnings.
For the quarter ending December 31, 2024, Alibaba’s revenue increased by 8% to 280.15 billion yuan compared to the previous year, surpassing market forecasts.
In particular, its cloud computing segment achieved a 13% year-on-year revenue rise, the highest growth in over two years.
Alibaba Cloud’s expansion has been fueled by double-digit growth in public cloud revenue, with AI-driven products seeing triple-digit growth for the sixth consecutive quarter.
As Asia’s leading cloud computing provider, Alibaba Cloud has launched four generations of its Qwen foundation model, an advanced open-source AI model.
Wu stated that the company will continue prioritizing three key business areas: domestic and international e-commerce, AI-driven cloud computing, and internet platform businesses. He highlighted that the AI era demands substantial infrastructure investments, which Alibaba is well-positioned to provide.
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