Demand for AI services drives Q3 growth for Alibaba

Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Tuesday night that its revenue stood at 247.8 billion yuan ($34.8 billion) during the July-September period, an increase of 5 percent year-on-year, with its core artificial intelligence-powered cloud and e-commerce businesses delivering strong growth.

"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," Wu Yongming, CEO of Alibaba Group, said.

The robust demand for AI services accelerated the company's Cloud Intelligence Group sector, with revenue rising 34 percent year-on-year to 39.8 billion yuan during the period. This momentum was primarily driven by public cloud revenue growth, including the increasing adoption of AI-related products.

AI-related product revenue achieved triple-digit year-on-year growth for the ninth consecutive quarter. Over the past four quarters, the company has invested approximately 120 billion yuan in AI and cloud infrastructure.

Revenue from its e-commerce business in the third quarter reached 102.9 billion yuan, an increase of 9 percent year-on-year. The scale of instant retail continued to expand with significant improvement in unit economics, driving rapid growth in monthly active consumers on the Taobao app.