China's Alibaba targets $100B in AI and cloud revenue over 5 years

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China’s Alibaba Group has pledged connected Thursday a extremity of surpassing $100 cardinal successful gross from its artificial quality and unreality businesses implicit the adjacent 5 years, which it says would beryllium powered by the AI request boom

ByCHAN HO-HIM AP concern writer

HONG KONG -- China’s exertion elephantine Alibaba Group pledged connected Thursday a extremity of surpassing $100 cardinal successful gross from its artificial quality and unreality businesses implicit the adjacent 5 years, which it said would beryllium powered by the AI request boom.

The announcement of the ambitious people came arsenic the institution posted a 67% driblet successful nett successful the latest quarter, adjacent arsenic maturation successful its unreality concern remained robust.

For the October-December quarter, the company, which shifted its absorption to unreality and AI technologies successful caller years, reported an wide gross summation of 2% year-on-year to 284.8 cardinal yuan ($41.4 billion), little than analysts’ estimates.

Revenue from its unreality concern jumped 36% successful the 4th to 43.3 cardinal yuan ($6.2 billion) from a twelvemonth ago.

CEO Eddie Wu said during an net telephone connected Thursday that Alibaba stands to payment from the “exponential maturation successful AI demand.” It has been expanding and upgrading its flagship Qwen AI app and consumer-facing chatbot and besides provides unreality computing and retention services to commercialized customers.

“(There is) tremendous and sustained maturation momentum of the AI market,” Wu said.

Profit for the 4th was 16.3 cardinal yuan ($2.4 billion), down from 48.9 cardinal yuan the aforesaid 4th past year, successful portion owed to increasing selling and income expenses.

The Hangzhou-based company, which started retired successful e-commerce, has besides seen a terms warfare successful the nutrient transportation conception implicit the past months adding unit to its profitability.

To assistance thrust nett and amid rising costs and increasing demand, the institution said connected Wednesday it would beryllium expanding prices for immoderate AI services by arsenic overmuch arsenic 34%. It besides launched the agentic AI instrumentality Wukong this week, successful an enlargement of its products for commercialized customers.

Alibaba’s AI ambitions was besides tested precocious pursuing the departure this period of Lin Junyang, caput of its AI exemplary part Qwen. Last year, the institution pledged investments of astatine slightest 380 cardinal yuan ($53 billion) successful 3 years to beforehand its unreality computing and AI infrastructure.

Chinese tech companies person been stepping up their competitiveness against U.S. rivals and increasing their dominance, particularly aft AI startup DeepSeek sent daze waves crossed the manufacture past year.