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Alibaba posts 5% rise in quarterly revenue on AI, cloud computing momentum
‘We have entered into an investment phase to build long-term strategic value in AI technologies and infrastructure,’ CEO Eddie Wu Yongming says
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Alibaba Group Holding, China’s e-commerce and cloud computing giant, on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected 5 per cent increase in revenue for the September quarter, as its cloud and artificial intelligence businesses continued to gain momentum.
Total revenue for the Hangzhou-based company reached 247.8 billion yuan (US$34.8 billion) for its financial second quarter ended September 30, beating the consensus estimate of 245.2 billion yuan by Bloomberg-polled analysts. That was more than the 2 per cent growth rate in the previous quarter.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders fell 52 per cent to 21 billion yuan from 43.9 billion yuan a year ago, primarily due to the decrease in income from operations. That was still better than the 9.2 billion yuan estimate by analysts.
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“We have entered into an investment phase to build long-term strategic value in AI technologies and infrastructure and a consumption platform integrating daily life services and e-commerce,” said Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming.
In his post-earnings call with analysts on Tuesday, Wu said the strong demand for AI could lead Alibaba to boost investment in AI infrastructure. Earlier this year, the company committed US$52 billion capital spending for computing resources and AI infrastructure – China’s largest-ever computing project financed by a single private business.
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As “the pace at which we can add new servers is insufficient to keep up with the growth in customer orders”, the company will not rule out scaling up capital expenditure, he added.
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