Alibaba has been among the most aggressive players in China’s artificial-intelligence sector, unveiling upgrades on an almost weekly basis.

China’s Alibaba Group BABA-N said on Friday artificial intelligence was key to expanding its cloud computing business, as it reported strong quarterly growth in the sector despite its wider operations missing revenue estimates.

U.S.-listed shares in the company were up 8 per cent at the market open.

Revenue in Alibaba’s cloud segment surged 26 per cent to 33.40 billion yuan (US$4.67-billion), easily beating an expected 18.4-per-cent rise. However, that was eclipsed by weaker than expected growth in its e-commerce business, leaving overall revenue lagging estimates by 2 per cent.

Alibaba has been among the most aggressive players in China’s AI

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