In response to the potential for future AI business opportunities, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and Baidu have been expanding their investments in AI infrastructure since 2024. Earlier in 2025, Alibaba and Tencent both announced significant increases in future capex.
It is expected that the four major Chinese cloud service providers (CSPs) will launch global investment plans, accelerating investment in global AI and cloud infrastructure over the next few years. They will also promote their own AI technologies and proactively market Chinese-style AI software and hardware solutions to countries around the world.
From 2021 to 2024, neither the US-China technology war nor China's economic slowdown caused a significant decline in the total revenue of the four Chinese CSPs. At the same time, the R&D expenditure of the four companies remained stable. The combined R&D expenditure of Huawei, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent ranged from US$9 billion to US$13 billion per quarter, with the international uncertainty and China's economic slowdown bringing no changes.
Top-4 CSPs see stable incomes despite geopolitics and bad economy
Chart 2: Revenues of Baidu AI Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, 2024 (US$b)
Top-4 CSPs prioritize R&D investments, raising capex since 2H24
Chart 3: Total capex and R&D expenses of top-4 Chinese CSPs, 1Q21-4Q24 (US$b)
Chart 4: R&D expenses of top-4 Chinese CSPs, 1Q23-1Q25 (US$b)
Chinese CSPs expand AI investment; Alibaba, Tencent raised 2H24 capex dramatically
Chart 5: Combined capex of top-4 Chinese CSPs, 1Q22-4Q24 (US$b)
Alibaba and Tencent Cloud accelerate global investment projects
