17:16 - 26.08.2024
August 26, Fineko/abc.az. China's major technology companies have doubled their expenditure on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development, despite the United States' restrictive measures aimed at curbing China's technological progress, according to a report by the Financial Times (FT).
ABC.AZ reports that tThe combined capital expenditure of Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu reached 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) in the first half of the year, compared to 23 billion yuan ($3.23 billion) in the same period of 2023. Representatives from these tech groups stated that the "main focus was on purchasing processors and infrastructure related to training large language models for AI."
Alibaba reported that revenues from AI-related products have more than doubled compared to 2023, partially driven by investments in Chinese AI startups. Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu told investors that the company "will continue to invest in AI research and development to ensure the growth of the AI-based cloud business."
However, China's capital expenditure in major tech industries still significantly lags behind that of American companies. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta (outlawed in Russia as an extramist organization), and Microsoft spent $106 billion in the first half of the year, pledging to continue investing in the coming months.
In October 2022, the US authorities adopted a set of measures aimed at restraining China's technological progress by limiting the supply of advanced microchips and related equipment.
