Investors in China have a new favorite. They bought $1.7 billion worth of stocks in one week

Internet giant Alibaba has become a new favorite of Chinese investors. In the first week of September, they bought a record $1.7 billion worth of Alibaba shares, with the stock gaining almost 19% since the beginning of the month. The company was able to win back the love of market participants due to impressive growth in revenue from artificial intelligence, which overshadowed concerns about other parts of the business.

In the first week of September, Chinese investors bought a total of HK$13.5 billion ($1.7 billion) worth of Alibaba shares through trading channels between mainland China and Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported. That's more than was spent on any other securities.

For Alibaba shares, the result for the week was better than it was in previous months, and if the pace continues, the dynamics may exceed the record of April.

Alibaba, once a symbol of China's Internet economy, has been going through major challenges in recent years: regulatory pressure, slowing domestic demand, increased competition and geopolitical risks, analysts at The Motley Fool recall.

The situation began to change after the publication of quarterly reports for the quarter ended in June. The company showed a sharp, "triple-digit" growth in revenue from artificial intelligence-related products, which strengthened investor optimism. Investor sentiment was further boosted by news that the Chinese tech giant unveiled its largest AI model to date in an attempt to compete with OpenAI and Google, and also acted as one of the lead investors in a round of robotics startup X Square Robot, Bloomberg writes.

Against this background, Alibaba shares in Hong Kong jumped by 4.2% on September 8. And relative to the end of August, they are now worth almost 19% more. This made them the leader in the Hang Seng Tech index. Alibaba securities were up 3.7% after the opening of main trading in the U.S. on Monday. According to Bloomberg, at least 20 analysts raised their target prices on the stock after Alibaba's reporting, on average predicting another 17% upside for the year.

At the same time, analysts at The Motley Fool said, risks remain for Alibaba, and investors should not confuse progress with a complete reversal. But the risks may have already been factored into the current share price, and investors should keep a close eye on the progress of the online commerce business and the sustainability of growth in the cloud business in the coming quarters, the analyst firm believes.

Last week, Alibaba unveiled its largest AI model Qwen3-Max-Preview with more than 1 trillion parameters, Investing.com writes. In parallel, the company is working on its own processor for artificial intelligence to reduce dependence on Nvidia chips amid Beijing's tightening control over the use of foreign semiconductors.

Alibaba is also showing interest in robotics through its Alibaba Cloud Intelligence division, which led a new $100 million funding round for Chinese humanoid robotics startup X Square Robot, TipRanks specifies.

Alibaba remains one of the largest investors in AI development in China and has already opened up access to several advanced models this year, intensifying competition in the fast-growing market.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor