**[Alibaba's First Share Placement in Seven Years: HK$80 Billion Fully Directed Towards AI, Poised to Become Hong Kong's Largest in History]** Beating AI News Flash: Alibaba has announced plans to place HK$80 billion worth of new shares, approximately USD $10.2 billion. The company intends to issue 710 million shares at HK$112.70 per share, representing a discount of about 3.6% compared to the most recent closing price. This marks Alibaba's first new share placement since its Hong Kong listing in 2019. The net proceeds will be fully invested in full-stack AI, encompassing chips, AI infrastructure, as well as model development and deployment. If completed, this will become the largest secondary offering in Hong Kong's history and the third-largest globally by 2026, trailing only Alphabet and Intel. This round of financing is not short on buyers. The placement has been oversubscribed, with participation from long-term investors, including sovereign wealth funds. Alibaba's financial report recently disclosed that last quarter's capital expenditure reached RMB 67.678 billion, a year-on-year increase of 75%, primarily allocated to AI infrastructure. Revenue from AI cloud and computing power services grew 45% during the same period. [Original Link]