Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA), are surging amid 24-hour trading on Robinhood. The stock rose 7.98% to $176.10 on the platform popular with retail traders.
Alibaba Stock Is Spiking In Hong Kong
The stock is also spiking on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is up 7.59% at HKD 171.50 ($22.06) at the time of writing, after the company’s CEO, Eddie Wu, announced that it will be expanding its already massive investment outlay in AI infrastructure.
Expects AI Spending To Accelerate
On Tuesday, Wu told a developer conference in Hangzhou that the company expects global spending on artificial intelligence to accelerate more quickly than anticipated, according to a report by Bloomberg.
“The industry's development speed far exceeded what we expected, and the industry's demand for AI infrastructure also far exceeded our anticipation,” he said.
See Also: Alibaba Faces Fresh Scrutiny As China Cracks Down On Online Content Violations
This adds to the company’s plans in February, when it unveiled plans to invest $53 billion, or 380 billion yuan, over a period of three years. Wu said this commitment will be increased. “We are actively proceeding with the 380 billion investment in AI infrastructure, and plan to add more,” he said.
Wu said that the company, often recognized as one of China’s premier e-commerce platforms, now aims to be a “full-stack AI service provider,” offering services such as model-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service, to meet the diverse needs of its growing clientele.
Shares Surge As Alibaba Plays Catch-Up
Wu’s announcement comes just days after Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced a $100 billion investment in ChatGPT parent OpenAI.
Gene Munster, the managing partner at Deep Water Asset Management, had termed this investment as being pivotal to the AI race, one that “bumps up the bar for the rest of Big Tech.” Alibaba has since quickly followed suit, with an expansion to its planned capex in this regard.
Alibaba scores high on Momentum, Growth and Value in Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, with a favorable price trend in the short, medium and long terms. Click here for deeper insights into the stock.
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