By Kate Yuan

(JW Insights) Nov 17 -- China’s tech giant Alibaba has canceled plans to spin off its cloud business against the uncertainties brought by US export curbs on advanced computing chips, according to Alibaba’s latest financial report released on November 16.

In October 2023, the US expanded its export control rules, further restricting the export of advanced computing chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. These new restrictions may create a significant adverse impact on the Alibaba's ability of its cloud intelligence group to provide products and services, and fulfill existing contracts. It may further impact its business performance and financial condition. The complete spin-off of the cloud intelligence group may not enhance shareholder value as originally envisioned. Instead, it will now focus on building a sustainable growth model for the group in an uncertain environment, said the Alibaba's financial report.

In Q2 of the 2024 fiscal year, the company achieved revenue of RMB224.79 billion ($31.03 billion), an 8.5% year-on-year increase. The adjusted net profit was RMB40.19 billion ($5.55 billion), up 19% over the last year. Among them, Alibaba Cloud generated revenue of RMB27.648 billion ($3.8 billion), increasing by 2% from a year earlier.

Alibaba Cloud announced new upgraded strategies for AI infrastructure at its just-held Apsara Conference. It unveiled the all-in-one AI application development platform, introduced large language model Tongyi Qianwen 2.0, and released models and cases for eight vertical industries.