Alibaba shows progress in China AI push, lifting shares

ALIBABA Group Holding reported a surge in revenue from Chinas AI boom, helping assuage investors nervous about the fallout from a worsening battle with Meituan and JD.com Inc. in internet commerce.

- BLOMBERG

China’s e-commerce leader reported a triple-digit percentage gain in Al-related product revenue as well as a better-than-anticipated 26% jump in sales from the cloud division - the business most closely tied to the post-DeepSeek artificial intelligence boom. Its shares gained more than 6% in pre-market US trading, after investors looked past a disappointing 2% rise in revenue and 3% decline in operating income to 35 billion yuan ($4.9 billion).

Alibaba’s AI wing - considered among the frontrunners in Chinese artificial intelligence development - helped gloss over concerns about an intense price war with JD and Meituan in the giant food delivery sector. That three-way battle has dealt more damage than anticipated to some of the country’s e-commerce leaders: JD’s profit halved in the quarter while Meituan warned of major losses, triggering a $27 billion selloff of the three companies’ shares this week.