Alibaba reports 9% rise in quarterly revenue

China's Alibaba on Thursday reported ​a 9% rise ​in quarterly revenue, as strong ​demand for AI services fueled growth in its cloud business, while an extended "618" shopping festival boosted ‌its core ⁠e-commerce ⁠unit.

As businesses increasingly deploy artificial intelligence applications, ​demand for the cloud computing power needed to train ​and run those systems has surged, benefiting China's largest technology companies.

Alibaba, the country's ​biggest cloud services provider, ⁠has stepped ‌up investment in AI ​infrastructure, proprietary ​models and applications, positioning the ⁠technology as a key growth driver ​for its cloud and consumer businesses.


The ​company's AI cloud and compute services revenue rose 45% to 48.44 billion yuan in the quarter.

Alibaba's capital expenditures rose 75% to 67.68 billion yuan ‌in the quarter ended June 30, as it continued to invest ​in AI ​infrastructure to ⁠meet strong customer demand.

The company reported revenue of 268.95 billion yuan ($40.02 billion) in the first ​quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of 268.88 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG.