Alibaba Stock Surges on AI Chip Deal with China Unicom

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. shares jumped more than 5% in Hong Kong and 2% in U.S. premarket trading after securing a deal to supply its homemade AI chips to China Unicom. The telecom giant will deploy Alibaba's Pingtouge accelerators in a new Qinghai data center, marking a strategic shift toward domestic semiconductor solutions.

Beijing's tightening restrictions on foreign technology imports continue to reshape the competitive landscape. Regulators recently instructed ByteDance and Alibaba to stop testing Nvidia's latest chips, creating opportunities for local players like MetaX and Biren Technology to fill the void.

The partnership underscores Alibaba's expanding role in China's AI infrastructure race—now spanning from cloud services to semiconductor hardware. Investors responded by pushing BABA shares to their highest level since 2021, while Nvidia saw premarket declines.