Alibaba has revealed plans to allocate over $50 billion toward artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing over the next three years. This announcement comes just one week after co-founder Jack Ma was spotted meeting with President Xi Jinping.
According to the company’s statement, Alibaba intends to invest a minimum of 380 billion yuan (approximately $53 billion) in the advancement of its cloud computing and AI infrastructure during this period.
Since the beginning of the year, Chinese technology stocks have seen a surge, with Alibaba — which operates some of the nation’s largest online shopping platforms — seeing its shares hit a three-year high. This uptick in stock value has been fueled by the company’s strong sales growth report last week, coupled with the sighting of Ma with Xi, ending a long period of public absence.
In its announcement, Alibaba emphasized that the strategy is focused on “strengthening the company’s commitment to long-term technological innovation” and highlighted its focus on growth driven by AI.
While the statement did not specify how the funds would be distributed or which projects would benefit, it did mention that the investment would surpass the total amount the company has spent on AI and cloud technologies over the past ten years.
