China's Alibaba targets $100B in AI and cloud revenue over 5 years

China's Alibaba targets $100B in AI and cloud revenue over 5 years China’s Alibaba Group has pledged on Thursday a goal of surpassing $100 billion in revenue from its artificial intelligence and cloud businesses over the next five years, which it says would be powered by the AI demand boom By CHAN HO-HIM AP business writer March 19, 2026, 11:15 AM HONG KONG -- China’s technology giant Alibaba Group pledged on Thursday a goal of surpassing $100 billion in revenue from its artificial intelligence and cloud businesses over the next five years, which it said would be powered by the AI demand boom. The announcement of the ambitious target came as the company posted a 67% drop in profit in the latest quarter, even as growth in its cloud business remained robust. For the October-December quarter, the company , which shifted its focus to cloud and AI technologies in recent years, reported an overall revenue increase of 2% year-on-year to 284.8 billion yuan ($41.4 billion), lower than analysts’ estimates. Revenue from its cloud business jumped 36% in the quarter to 43.3 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) from a year ago. CEO Eddie Wu said during an earnings call on Thursday that Alibaba stands to benefit from the “exponential growth in AI demand.” It has been expanding and upgrading its flagship Qwen AI app and consumer-facing chatbot and also provides cloud computing and storage services to commercial customers. “(There is) enormous and sustained growth momentum of the AI market,” Wu said. Profit for the quarter was 16.3 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), down from 48.9 billion yuan the same quarter last year, in part due to growing marketing and sales expenses. Popular Reads Iran live updates: US has less clear picture of Iranian leadership positions: Gabbard 16 minutes ago 'I'm totally shocked': Woman arrested in 2011 cold case murder Mar 18, 4:20 PM Trump calls Strait of Hormuz 'something that we don't need' Mar 15, 9:09 PM The Hangzhou-based company, which started out in e-commerce,...