Alibaba is seeking $10.2B from a share sale after quarterly capex reached almost $10B amid its AI buildout.

Says 100% of net proceeds from the proposed HK$80B placement will fund AI capabilities, including infrastructure expansion.

Will make it the largest primary follow-on offering ever by a Hong Kong-listed company if completed.

Alibaba spent $11.9B buying back stock in fiscal 2025 and cut shares outstanding by 5.1%; now it wants $10.2B by issuing new shares for AI. Those decisions don't cancel each other, but they show how quickly capital priorities have changed.

Because infrastructure consumes cash before the resulting capacity is fully monetized, Alibaba is accepting dilution rather than funding the entire next leg from its balance sheet.

Because Alibaba owns Qwen, cloud infrastructure, and proprietary AI chips, it has several ways to earn from AI demand even if model pricing keeps falling.