Alibaba unveiled plans to ramp up AI spending past its previous target of $50 billion, sending its shares soaring on Wednesday.
The Chinese tech giant joins other global firms in pledging eye-watering sums toward AI development, aimed at supercharging advancements and providing enough power to meet demand. The AI drive by Alibaba and peers like Baidu could reignite foreign investor interest in the sector after years of retreat from China, Bloomberg wrote. In a rare turn for Chinese tech, Alibaba is leaning heavily into superintelligence — a hypothetical AI system surpassing human intellect — mirroring efforts by US firms like OpenAI and Meta.
It indicated “a remarkable departure from the cautious, instrumentalist rhetoric that has dominated Chinese tech discourse,” one China tech commentator wrote.