Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Says Company Is In A ‘Superior Position’ For AI Boom As Q1 Cloud Revenue Surges 45%

Q1 revenue grew 9% to $39.64 billion, but was below Wall Street’s estimate of $39.89 billion, according to Koyfin data.
A person holds a smartphone displaying the logo of Alibaba Group. CEO Eddie Wu said the company will increase investment in AI. (Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
A person holds a smartphone displaying the logo of Alibaba Group. CEO Eddie Wu said the company will increase investment in AI. (Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
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Arnab Paul·Stocktwits
Published Aug 20, 2026   |   7:27 AM EDT
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  • Revenue from AI Cloud and Compute Services climbed 45% to about $7.21 billion.
  • AI-related product revenue grew triple digits for the 12th straight quarter.
  • Capital expenditures jumped 75% to roughly $10.07 billion during the quarter.

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Alibaba Group (BABA) was in the spotlight on Thursday after the Chinese technology behemoth reported its first-quarter results, with sharp growth seen across its Cloud and AI-related product revenue.

“With our full‑stack AI strategy, we have put Alibaba in a superior position to capture the substantial growth of demand for artificial intelligence and AI compute,” Eddie Wu, CEO of Alibaba Group.BABA stock edged 0.9% lower at the time of writing.

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Q1 Revenue, Earnings Miss Estimates

Q1 revenue rose 9% to $39.64 billion, driven by stronger demand for artificial intelligence services and cloud growth. However, the figure came in slightly below Wall Street’s estimate of $39.89 billion, according to Koyfin data.

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Diluted earnings fell 42% to $1.26 per American depositary receipt, also missing analysts’ expectations of $1.60. Alibaba’s profitability remained under pressure as it continued to spend heavily on AI infrastructure, cloud capacity, and its quick-commerce business.

Capital expenditures jumped 75% to roughly $10.07 billion during the quarter.

AI Demand Supercharges Cloud Growth

Revenue from AI Cloud and Compute Services climbed 45% to about $7.21 billion, driven by public cloud demand and growing adoption of AI-related products. Its AI-related product revenue grew triple digits for the 12th straight quarter, as businesses increasingly used its computing infrastructure and Qwen AI models, the company said.

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Revenue from Alibaba’s China e-commerce business fell 8% to $16.35 billion, while international e-commerce revenue slipped 1% to $4.09 billion during the quarter.

Alibaba previously said it expects AI-related products to account for more than half of external cloud revenue and is targeting more than $100 billion in combined AI and cloud revenue over the next five years.

Retail Sees Rally Post $130

Retail sentiment surrounding BABA on Stocktwits turned ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ a day earlier, amid ‘high’ message volumes. It was among the top trending tickers on the platform at the time of writing.

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One user said the market is “sleeping on Alibaba cloud.”

Another user said if the stock breaks its $130 resistance, it will rally. It is currently trading at just over $125.

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BABA shares are down nearly 18% so far in 2026.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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