Alibaba Targets $100 Billion of AI Revenue in Five Years

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. aims to quintuple cloud and AI revenue to $100 billion annually in five years, setting a high bar for its artificial intelligence endeavors to offset the plateauing of a once pre-eminent e-commerce empire.

Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu proclaimed that goal after his company reported a 67% plunge in quarterly earnings and meagre revenue growth, underscoring the urgency behind Alibaba’s drive to wring more cash out of costly AI endeavors. But Wu didn’t offer specifics on how his company would hit that objective, which suggests at least 35% growth a year — about matching the pace that the cloud division managed in the December quarter. Alibaba’s US-listed shares slid 7.1%, the biggest drop since October.