Alibaba, the Chinese tech giant, announced on Monday that it plans to invest over $50 billion in artificial intelligence and cloud computing over the next three years, just one week after co-founder Jack Ma was spotted meeting with President Xi Jinping.
Investors have piled into Chinese technology stocks since the start of the year, with Alibaba which runs some of the country's biggest online shopping platforms -- seeing its shares soar to three-year highs, reports AFP.
Alibaba plans to "invest at least 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over the next three years to advance its cloud computing and AI infrastructure", a company statement said.
The firm said its strategy was aimed at "reinforcing (Alibaba's) commitment to long-term technological innovation... (and) underscores the company's 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".
After Beijing's 2020 tech crackdown dampened investor confidence, Alibaba and its peers have gained momentum recently, fueled by the launch of DeepSeek's AI chatbot.
The turnaround comes as the world's second-largest economy continues to battle sluggish consumption and persistent woes in the property sector.
At a recent meeting with business leaders, Xi praised the private sector and called current economic issues "surmountable," signaling support for big tech. Despite stepping down from Alibaba, Ma remains influential, and his presence at the meeting suggests a possible public comeback after his conflict with regulators.
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
