Alibaba to Bulk Up AI Investment via $10.20 Billion Share Placement

Alibaba 9988 -2.54%decrease; down pointing triangle is aiming to raise $10.2 billion to invest in it artificial-intelligence buildout, looking to sharpen its edge as competition heats up.

The Chinese tech heavyweight said Sunday that it entered into a placement agreement for 710 million new shares that will be offered to investors outside the U.S. at 112.70 Hong Kong dollars each. That represents a discount from the stock’s last close of HK$123.00 in Hong Kong.

Assuming all shares are placed, gross proceeds will total HK$80.0 billion, equivalent to US$10.2 billion, which Alibaba said it will use exclusively to invest in its AI capabilities.

The Hangzhou-based company has been spending heavily on the technology as it jostles with rivals for dominance in the rapidly growing AI sector.

That has come at a cost. Alibaba’s earnings last week showed that net profit fell 76% in its fiscal first quarter as continued investments in AI infrastructure pushed capital expenditure sharply higher.

Alibaba is competing in a market where Chinese companies are rolling out ever more sophisticated AI models at an increasingly rapid pace. The company has continued to upgrade its flasgship Qwen series and integrate it into its core ecosystem, and recently rolled out the Qwen3.8-Max—one of the world’s largest open-source models.

Alibaba said it plans to use 100% of the net proceeds from the placing to invest in its full-stack AI capabilities, including infrastructure.

The total number of placing shares represent about 3.70% of the amount in issue when the agreement was reached. The placement is expected to close Wednesday.

CICC, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS are among the banks managing the placement.