Alibaba’s Market Cap Returns to HK$3 Trillion — Will Jack Ma Lead Alibaba to Greatness Again?

TradingKey - As of September 17 (local time), Alibaba (09988.HK) surged in Hong Kong trading, rising as much as 5.54% to HK$162, with turnover exceeding HK$20 billion. The rally pushed its market capitalization back above the HK$3 trillion mark — the first time in nearly four years and a new high for the stock. Year-to-date, Alibaba’s shares have gained over 96%, leading the pack among Chinese tech stocks.

On the corporate front, Alibaba completed the issuance of approximately $3.2 billion in zero-coupon convertible bonds on September 16. Proceeds will be primarily allocated to cloud infrastructure and international expansion. Notably, Alibaba’s self-developed AI chip, designed by its subsidiary Pingtouge, has achieved key performance metrics on par with NVIDIA’s H20 and surpassing the A800 chip.

Strategically, CEO Eddie Wu has clearly articulated a vision of “AI across all businesses,” announcing that Alibaba will invest 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over the next three years to build cloud and AI infrastructure. This long-term commitment is increasingly resonating with investors.

Of particular interest to the market, Bloomberg reported that Jack Ma has made a strong return to Alibaba, with internal company bulletin boards reportedly displaying the slogan “MAGA” — a play on “Make Alibaba Great Again.”

Meanwhile, Alibaba has continued aggressive share buybacks throughout the year. In fiscal 2025 alone, it has repurchased $11.9 billion worth of shares, reducing its outstanding share count by 5.1% — providing solid support for its stock price.

Guosen Securities maintains its “Outperform” rating, noting that Alibaba is making steady progress in integrating “AI + Cloud” with consumer services.

Goldman Sachs has raised its target price for Alibaba from $163 to $179 per ADS, keeping a “Buy” rating. It also increased its valuation of Alibaba Cloud to $43 per ADS, and forecasts that capital expenditures by Chinese cloud providers will grow 39% year-over-year in Q3 2025, laying hardware foundations for sustained AI revenue growth.