Latest news with #Alibaba Group Holding
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Alibaba, Baidu lead China's AI cloud boom as market surges 55% to US$2.7 billion
Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding led the market for public cloud services supporting artificial intelligence in China last year, as the industry embraced 'disruptive innovations' towards generative and agentic AI, according to consultancy IDC. The mainland AI public cloud market reached 19.6 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) in 2024, increasing 55 per cent on the back of surging demand for AI training and applications, IDC said on Monday. The top two market players each accounted for roughly 25 per cent of the market, followed by Tencent Holdings and Huawei Technologies, according to a chart that did not provide exact share numbers. Alibaba owns the Post. 'Disruptive innovations' in AI drove the surge in the market, IDC said. Before 2022, demand for AI cloud services came from 'traditional' applications, including optical character recognition, quality inspection and surveillance. Starting in 2023, large language models – the technology underpinning ChatGPT-like chatbots – began to dominate the market. AI services were now evolving into agentic forms in the second half of this year, marking a new era of autonomous, task-oriented AI interactions, the report said. These shifts have prompted growing demand for AI cloud services, which can provide both generative-AI applications and training resources for clients to build their own AI services. Among five segments within AI cloud services, the biggest was computer vision, which rose 34 per cent to 8.1 billion yuan last year, led by Tencent and Baidu, IDC data showed.
South China Morning Post
12-08-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong stocks trade sideways as investors focus on economic data, earnings
Hong Kong stocks traded in a narrow range on Tuesday, as traders looked past the US tariff pause extension to focus on economic data and earnings. Advertisement The Hang Seng Index fell 0.1 per cent to 24,891.37 as of 10.09am local time. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.4 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index gained at least 0.3 per cent. Kuaishou Technology dropped 2.5 per cent to HK$76.75 and Alibaba Group Holding fell 1.4 per cent to HK$116.90. Tencent Holdings retreated 0.3 per cent to HK$559.50 before its interim report on Wednesday. Market sentiment will be tested, as some of the Hang Seng Index constituents release earnings this week. China's statistics bureau will disclose the July economic data on Friday, offering fresh clues on how the world's second-largest economy fared after first-half growth topped estimates. Investors took the tariff-extension news in their stride, as the outcome was in line with expectations. US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order extending the tariff truce with China by 90 days until November 10, while China also made a similar statement. Advertisement Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.5 per cent, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 per cent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1 per cent.
