Alibaba pledges to invest more than $50 billion in AI over the next three years

VTV.vn - Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba has just announced that it will invest more than 50 billion USD in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next three years.

Alibaba has begun to scale back its AI investments in its e-commerce business, Vice Chairman Kaifu Zhang said on Monday. Alibaba expects AI to pay off, despite investor concerns about the real-world impact of its massive spending on the technology. Last month, the company announced it would ramp up investments in AI and cloud computing infrastructure, after pledging 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) in the space over the next three years in February.

Mr. Zhang, who is in charge of AI applications in e-commerce, said the company has deployed a variety of AI tools, from personalizing search results to improving the accuracy of virtual fitting features. He said initial tests showed that AI has brought steady business results, with a 12% increase in return on advertising spend. He said such a double-digit increase is rare in tests, and predicted that the integration of AI will have a positive impact on Alibaba’s gross merchandise value (GMV) during this year’s Singles’ Day, which falls on November 11.

Alibaba’s China e-commerce business continued to be its largest source of revenue, reaching $19.53 billion in the quarter ended June 30, up 10% year-on-year. In a report released at the end of August 2025, Alibaba identified AI and consumer as two landmark opportunities, prompting the group to invest on a “historic scale”.

Chief Financial Officer Toby Xu said the company’s priority now is to implement these investments, so Alibaba may temporarily reduce its focus on profits in the near term. However, he asserted that this does not mean the company is taking profits lightly.

Source: https://vtv.vn/alibaba-cam-ket-dau-tu-hon-50-ty-usd-vao-ai-trong-ba-nam-toi-100251017201101314.htm