Alibaba Group's (NYSE:BABA) mapping and local services platform, Amap, reached a record 360 million daily users on the first day of China's National Day holiday, underscoring the company's growing push into the local services market.
The milestone, coupled with new AI-driven features and enhanced road safety tools, helped lift Alibaba shares above their 52-week high, with JPMorgan boosting its price forecast by nearly 45%.
Amap, Alibaba's answer to Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Maps, also guided trips totaling more than 9 billion kilometers during the holiday period.
Also Read: Alibaba Stock Breaks Past 52-Week High As AI Frenzy Heats Up
Its new road safety system, Eagle Eye Guardian, issued over 290 million driving alerts, according to the South China Morning Post, which cited Alibaba's internal data.
The surge highlights Alibaba's effort to expand Amap beyond traditional navigation, positioning it in direct competition with Meituan (OTC:MPNGY) in areas such as restaurant bookings, food delivery, and hotel reservations.
The platform's evolution is part of a broader strategy to create a local services ecosystem that overlaps with Meituan's established footprint.
To sharpen its competitive edge, Amap launched an AI assistant named Xiaogao in August, powered by Alibaba's proprietary models.
On Wednesday alone, Xiaogao handled 2.6 billion user requests, assisting travelers with route planning, trip organization, and destination recommendations via natural language commands.
Last month, Alibaba introduced Amap Street Stars, an AI-driven ranking tool for restaurants, hotels, and tourist spots, which combines navigation data with user reviews, a direct challenge to Meituan's Dianping platform.
The market response has been swift. BABA shares were trading 2.73% higher premarket on Thursday at $187.77, surpassing the 52-week high of $183.08.
JPMorgan analysts, led by Alex Yao, raised their price target for Alibaba's Hong Kong shares by nearly 45%, marking the highest forecast tracked by Bloomberg.
Yao highlighted that Alibaba's valuation, roughly 12 times fiscal 2028 earnings, offers significant room for upside, supported by stronger cloud revenue and the growing synergy between its AI and e-commerce operations.
Alibaba is positioned to participate at every stage, compute, platforms, and apps, while directly improving merchant economics, he said, urging investors to focus beyond short-term pressures from food delivery and quick commerce competition in 2027.
The record traffic on Amap, combined with Alibaba's AI innovations, signals a renewed momentum for the tech giant as it seeks to deepen its footprint in China's digital services landscape while leveraging its AI capabilities across its broader ecosystem.
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