Investing.com-- Alibaba Group’s Hong Kong shares soared to a three-year high on Friday, sparking broader rally in major Chinese technology stocks as the e-commerce giant clocked strong December quarter earnings.
Alibaba (HK:9988) (NYSE:BABA) rose as much as 11% to HK$133.90- its strongest level since early-2022. The stock was the best performer in the Hang Seng, underpinning an over 2% gain in the index.
Alibaba clocked stronger-than-expected revenue for the December quarter, and said it will ramp up investments in its core e-commerce business and artificial intelligence.
Demand for AI also increased revenue from Alibaba Cloud, which is at the center of the company’s AI efforts.
The company confirmed that it is partnering with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to power AI features in iPhones sold in China.
Additionally, an overnight report from the Wall Street Journal showed GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) CEO and billionaire investor Ryan Cohen had built a $1 billion stake in Alibaba in recent months.
Alibaba sparks broader China tech rally
Gains in Alibaba spilled over into broader Chinese technology stocks, as a strong showing from the company’s cloud unit sparked increased optimism over China’s AI capabilities.
Alibaba’s peers Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) Inc (HK:9888) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) rose 2% and 3.4%, respectively, while rival JD.com rose 2.6%.
China’s biggest tech stocks were sitting on strong gains over the past month, as the release of DeepSeek AI drove bets that Chinese companies were still in the AI race.
Alibaba also benefited greatly from this rally, given that the company is regarded as among the leaders in Chinese AI development. The company had released a new AI model in late-January to capitalize on DeepSeek’s popularity, and also offers support for DeepSeek on its cloud platform.