China’s Alibaba to invest €50 billion in AI and cloud computing

Chinese giant Alibaba announced on Monday that it will invest €50 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, just days after a high-profile meeting between its founder Jack Ma and President Xi Jinping.

 
Based in Hangzhou, eastern China, Alibaba owns some of the country’s most popular e-commerce platforms, notably Taobao, and ranks among China’s tech giants.

Investors have flocked to Chinese technology stocks since early 2025. Alibaba’s share price recently surged to a three-year high.

The company further boosted investor confidence last week by reporting strong quarterly sales growth, highlighting the sector’s recovery after years of downturn.

Alibaba announced plans to invest “at least 380 billion yuan (€50 billion)” over the next three years to enhance its cloud computing and AI infrastructure. The strategy underscores the company’s commitment to long-term innovation and AI-driven growth.

Alibaba did not specify how it will divide the €50 billion investment between cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Record investment

Alibaba stated that this investment will surpass its total spending on AI and cloud computing over the past decade.

The announcement follows last week’s rare meeting involving Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and several prominent figures from the private sector, widely seen as a positive signal for China’s tech industry.

A few days later, Alibaba reported stronger-than-expected quarterly sales growth of 8%, reaching 280 billion yuan (€36.8 billion) in the third quarter of its fiscal year.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu praised these results as evidence of “significant progress” in the group’s “user-first, AI-driven strategy, ” highlighting renewed growth in the company’s core businesses.

Chinese authorities introduced strict regulations in 2020, targeting the previously loosely regulated technology sector. This significantly disrupted many tech companies, including Alibaba.

DeepSeek

But these tech giants have recently shown signs of recovery, boosted by investor optimism over Chinese advances in artificial intelligence—especially following the success of startup DeepSeek’s conversational AI.

This resurgence occurs as China urgently seeks to revive sluggish domestic consumption following the pandemic, further complicated by a property crisis, high youth unemployment, and household uncertainty about the future.

In his meeting with private-sector leaders last week, President Xi Jinping described current economic difficulties as “surmountable,” signaling support for technology giants, which play a key role in driving consumption.

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, who stepped down as company head but reportedly retains a significant stake, also attended the meeting.

His presence was seen as a sign of rehabilitation for the charismatic entrepreneur, who had maintained a low profile since openly criticizing financial regulators in 2020.