By Tracy Qu


Alibaba Cloud is lowering prices for international users of its cloud products as it looks to attract more customers in the era of artificial intelligence, cutting some price tags by up to 59%.

The digital technology and intelligence arm of tech giant Alibaba said the new pricing strategy covers five core public-cloud categories: compute, storage, network, database, and big data. It is lowering prices across the categories by an average of 23%, it said in a statement on Monday. The cuts apply to products using the company's international data centers out of mainland China.

The move marks Alibaba Cloud's second round of price cuts so far this year, signaling intensifying competition. The company targeted domestic users with the price cuts it made in February.

"Cloud infrastructure is poised to be the key cornerstone for the future of AI, and our commitment lies in making sure that the foundation for AI development remains affordable," Selina Yuan, president of international business at Alibaba Cloud, said in the statement.

Alibaba Cloud's revenue has slowed in recent quarters. Cloud sales grew about 3% from a year earlier in the three months ended December, down from 20% in the same period in 2021. Alongside rivals Huawei Cloud, and Tencent Cloud, Alibaba Cloud is one of the leaders in China's cloud-services market.

Shares of Alibaba closed up 0.5% to HK$70.40.


Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-08-24 0445ET