CITIC Securities said the certainty of the latest wave of AI investment is shifting toward the cloud layer, and that Alibaba Cloud, as China’s largest public cloud and largest AI cloud, will benefit from the stronger outlook, according to Jiemian News. The brokerage said the latest results from the four major North American CSP cloud providers showed three clear changes: more visible cloud demand beyond model labs into ordinary enterprise customers and general office scenarios, a clearer ROIC framework with a more visible and better-than-expected payback cycle, and more disciplined capex at elevated levels as companies expand spending while tightening control over return metrics and capacity delivery schedules.

CITIC Securities said Alibaba has full-stack AI capabilities across chips, cloud and models, which could help it replicate Google’s advantages in self-developed efficiency and pricing transmission in the AI era. It also said Alibaba still has room to increase capital expenditure compared with North American peers, both in absolute terms and as a share of revenue, while its revenue and profit are both on an upward trajectory. Jiemian News reported that China’s 2025 AI cloud market was about 56.7 billion yuan, with Alibaba Cloud ranked first at 38.1%, followed by Baidu Cloud at 9.4% and Tencent Cloud at 6.3%. The report also pointed investors to the Hua Xia Hang Seng Internet Tech ETF (513330.SH) and its feeder fund Hua Xia Hang Seng Internet Tech ETF Connect C (013172.OF), saying the Hang Seng Internet Technology Index gives full coverage to Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, which together account for 37% of its weighting.