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Alibaba Shares Surge on Nvidia Partnership and Global AI Expansion

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Alibaba announced on Wednesday a sweeping set of initiatives, including a partnership with Nvidia, new global data centers, and its largest-ever AI products, underscoring its pivot to make artificial intelligence a central business priority alongside e-commerce.

The news sent Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares up nearly 10% to a four-year high, while its U.S.-listed shares also rose by a similar margin in premarket trading.

“The speed of AI industry development has far exceeded our expectations, and the industry’s demand for AI infrastructure has also far exceeded our expectations,” Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said at the company’s annual Apsara Conference. He added that spending on AI will be increased, though without specifying figures. Earlier this year, Alibaba pledged 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) for AI infrastructure investments over three years.

As part of its strategy, Alibaba will collaborate with Nvidia to enhance physical AI capabilities including data synthesis, model training, environmental simulation, and validation testing.

The company also unveiled an ambitious global data center expansion plan, announcing facilities in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands, with more to follow in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Dubai within the next year. This will add to Alibaba’s current network of 91 data centers across 29 regions. The company did not specify whether Nvidia chips would power these new facilities.

At the same event, Alibaba launched its most advanced AI language model to date, Qwen3-Max, boasting over 1 trillion parameters. According to CTO Zhou Jingren, the model demonstrates strong performance in code generation and autonomous agent capabilities, allowing the AI to act more independently toward user-defined goals compared to traditional chatbots like ChatGPT.

Benchmark tests such as Tau2-Bench reportedly show Qwen3-Max outperforming competitors including Anthropic’s Claude and DeepSeek-V3.1 in specific categories.

Additional AI products showcased included Qwen3-Omni, a multimodal system designed for immersive applications in virtual and augmented reality, with potential use cases in smart glasses and intelligent vehicle cockpits.

The announcements come shortly after Nvidia revealed a $100 billion investment deal with OpenAI, highlighting the intensifying race in AI infrastructure.

Alibaba’s cloud division, which reported 26% revenue growth last quarter, is emerging as a key growth driver as the company monetizes its AI services more aggressively.

SAP Overtakes Novo Nordisk as Europe’s Largest Company by Market Capitalization

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German software giant SAP has surpassed Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk as Europe’s largest company by market capitalization. As of 0900 GMT on Monday, SAP’s market cap stood at $340 billion, edging out Novo Nordisk, according to Reuters’ calculations using LSEG Workspace data.

SAP, Europe’s leading software maker, specializes in business application software, serving various industries in functions like finance, sales, and supply chain management. Its growth is largely attributed to optimism surrounding its cloud business, with expectations that it will benefit significantly from recent investments in generative artificial intelligence. Despite a 7% increase in SAP’s stock price in 2025, which lags behind the broader European STOXX 600 index’s 8.3% rise year-to-date, the company has posted a remarkable 160% total return since the end of 2022, far outpacing the STOXX 600’s 28% performance.

In contrast, Novo Nordisk has seen recent underperformance, especially after disappointing trial results from its experimental obesity drug, Cagrisema. The healthcare company had previously surpassed luxury goods giant LVMH in September 2023 to become Europe’s largest company but has since struggled to maintain that lead.

Amazon’s Cloud Business Faces Crucial Test After Rivals Microsoft and Google Struggle

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Amazon is under intense pressure as it prepares to report its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, with high expectations surrounding its cloud business amid growing concerns over Big Tech’s investments in artificial intelligence (AI). After disappointing earnings from Microsoft and Google, which fueled investor concerns about the costs of AI, Amazon’s performance could be a pivotal moment in the tech sector.

Shares of major tech companies surged in recent years, driven by the belief that the AI boom and its massive data center needs would sustain growth. However, these expectations were rattled when DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, announced breakthroughs at a fraction of the cost, causing a selloff in tech stocks.

Despite these challenges, Amazon may be in a stronger position than its rivals, analysts say. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud services provider, is poised to report a 19.3% revenue growth, its highest increase in eight quarters. The company is also expected to benefit from its early embrace of DeepSeek’s AI models and plans to release its generative AI voice service, Alexa, later this month.

While Microsoft and Google face slowing cloud growth, Amazon has maintained optimism about its cloud business. Some analysts believe that Amazon has regained ground in the AI race, thanks to its increased investment in companies like Anthropic and a broad selection of AI models available through AWS. “We believe AWS is regaining share,” said Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, highlighting Amazon’s strength in AI despite initial slower growth compared to Microsoft and Google.

Amazon’s valuation remains higher than its competitors, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of nearly 39, compared to Microsoft’s 29 and Alphabet’s 22.4. This strong position could help Amazon surpass market expectations and emerge as a leader in the AI-driven cloud market.

In addition to its cloud growth, Amazon is benefiting from a strong retail performance. Analysts expect Amazon’s North American sales to rise 9% in the fourth quarter, fueled by a successful holiday shopping season. Increased consumer spending, particularly in e-commerce, and Amazon’s expansion into groceries, pharmacy, and fashion are expected to propel its growth in the retail sector.

With a favorable holiday season and a competitive edge in AI, Amazon’s upcoming report could restore confidence in the tech giant, positioning it for long-term success.