This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) shares came under fresh pressure in Hong Kong after Anthropic accused the Chinese technology giant of illicitly accessing its artificial intelligence model. The stock fell as much as 4.9%, touching a 16-month low and extending its decline this year to 33%.
The selloff also spread across other Chinese AI-linked names, with Xiaomi (XIACY) and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) both dropping more than 3%. The move reflects growing investor concern that Chinese technology companies could face tougher hurdles in the global AI race, even though they have continued to offer reasonably priced products that may be good enough for many users.
The pressure on Alibaba is building at a difficult moment, with sluggish domestic consumption, weaker sentiment toward Chinese internet stocks, and a rotation into hardware and semiconductor names in South Korea and Taiwan weighing on the sector. Nomura analysts estimated that China’s June 18 shopping festival saw an 8% drop in core e-commerce revenue from a year earlier, compared with market expectations for flat growth, and cut their forecast for Alibaba’s 2027 EBITA by 15%.