Alibaba hikes AI-service prices up to 34% after demand soars

[HONG KONG] Alibaba Group is raising prices for its artificial intelligence (AI) computing and storage products by as much as 34 per cent, in response to demand and rising infrastructure costs. 

It is hiking the prices of its T-Head AI-computing chips, such as the Zhenwu 810E, by 5 to 34 per cent, the company said.

Its storage service, known as Cloud Parallel File Storage, will also cost 30 per cent more, it said. 

The price hikes emerged after Alibaba launched a major structural revamp in March to focus on monetising AI.

China’s e-commerce leader has introduced a series of products – including an agentic AI service called Wukong for businesses. It is hoping to tap national enthusiasm for the technology.

Alibaba’s shares rose as much as 3.2 per cent in Hong Kong on Wednesday (Mar 18). 

It joins big tech giants – from Alphabet’s Google to Tencent – in efforts to try and monetise AI-related services, responding in part to growing concerns that hefty AI investments are generating inadequate returns. 

Tencent has also taken initial steps to monetise the shift towards agentic AI.

On Mar 11, the company announced a hike by more than four times the price for its Hunyuan foundation models on its agent-developer platform.

SEE ALSO

Alibaba debuts OpenClaw app to feed China’s agentic AI addiction

Tencent seizes momentum in China agentic AI race against Alibaba

Alibaba plans major revamp to heighten focus on AI profits

At the same time, it began charging for third-party models from startups such as Zhipu and Moonshot – which it hosted on its cloud service, ending a free-trial period.

Google has also recently announced a plan to raise pricing. 

Just hours before Alibaba’s announcement, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang said the company is firing up manufacturing of H200 AI accelerators for customers in China.

It is a sign of the strong demand for AI-computing power in the Asian country. BLOOMBERG