Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) raised HK$80 billion (US$10.2 billion) in Hong Kong’s biggest follow-on offering, underscoring its willingness to amass and spend vast sums to take the lead in global artificial intelligence (AI).The online retail giant-turned-AI player sold 710 million shares at HK$112.70 each and its stock slumped 8.5 percent yesterday, the most since early 2025. Still, the deal — which was priced at a 3.6 percent discount to the Friday close of Alibaba’s US-traded shares — attracted demand from institutional investors for almost three times the offering, according to people familiar with the matter. Alibaba will be subject to a lockup of 90 days. The capital raising reflects Alibaba’s eagerness to outspend and outrun Chinese rivals in the chase to define the frontier of AI development. Among country’s big technology firms, Alibaba has come closest to the huge outlays of its US peers. The company has sold off assets and pledged to spend more than 380 billion yuan (US$56.5 billion) over three years on AI, from chips and data centers to large-language model development. Its flagship Qwen (通義千問) offering is now the world’s most popular model family.
People visit an Alibaba Group Holding Ltd booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, on July 26 last year.
