Introduction

Investment View and Key Data

Company / platform Role Latest operating evidence Current assessment Key verification metrics
Alibaba / Alibaba Cloud Preferred 2Q26 revenue +45%; adjusted EBITA +133% Revenue and profit improved together External revenue, AI revenue share, cloud EBITA margin
Tencent / Tencent Cloud Second 2Q26 cloud revenue grew more than 20%; compute remained constrained Strong application links; high current investment Cloud growth, MaaS revenue, free cash flow
Baidu / AI Cloud Monitor 2Q26 AI cloud infrastructure +50%; GPU cloud +283% Rapid AI growth; high group transition cost AI cloud revenue, cost growth, legacy revenue decline
Huawei Cloud Technology comparison 2025 cloud-related revenue RMB72.075bn across business segments Integrated domestic technology; limited financial comparability Ascend supply, customers, cloud profit
Volcano Engine Competition monitor Ranked second in 2025 China AI cloud by Omdia Strong model usage and low pricing External customers, paid usage, enterprise delivery
Exhibit 1: Relative assessment of major China AI cloud providers

Source: Company filings; Omdia; Mortise Capital Research

Metric Latest value Comparison Research implication
China cloud market, 2024 RMB828.8bn +34.4% YoY Enterprise cloud adoption continues to support AI deployment
Mainland China cloud infrastructure, 4Q25 US$14.7bn +26% YoY Quarterly growth accelerated through 2025
China AI cloud market, 2025 RMB56.7bn RMB20.83bn in 2024 AI cloud is growing rapidly from a smaller base
2025 AI cloud mix AI IaaS 69%; MaaS 31% Infrastructure remains the majority Software and paid usage will determine margin improvement
Alibaba AI cloud share, 2025 38.1% Ranked first Scale, models and enterprise products are comparatively complete
Alibaba 2Q26 capital expenditure RMB67.678bn +75% YoY Supply expansion creates cash-flow pressure
Tencent 2Q26 capital expenditure RMB52.8bn +176% YoY Cash-return verification remains incomplete
Exhibit 2: Industry data summary

Source: CAICT; Omdia; Alibaba; Tencent; data through 20 August 2026

Report Roadmap and Reading Guide

This report is organised around a sequence of verifiable questions. It first defines the market and reconciles incompatible market-size measures, then examines demand, supply, competition and provider economics. The final sections translate operating evidence into capital-return tests, monitoring rules and explicit invalidation conditions.

Section Analytical question Primary output
1. Scope and definition What is included in AI cloud, and which figures are comparable? Market boundary and terminology
2. Market size and phase How large is the market, and which revenue pools are expanding? Market size, growth and mix
3. Demand, supply and profitability Which workloads create durable revenue and which costs constrain returns? Unit-economics and revenue-quality framework
4. Competition Which providers control compute, models, enterprise access and delivery? Capability and customer-segment comparison
5. Company analysis What does public disclosure establish for each major provider? Provider-specific evidence and diligence gaps
6. Global comparison Which AWS, Azure and Google Cloud practices are relevant in China? Transferable operating practices and limits
7-8. Capital returns and assessment Does operating growth compensate for depreciation and cash investment? Scenario, valuation and monitoring framework
9-10. Risks and conclusion What evidence would change the main assessment? Invalidation conditions and final judgement
Exhibit 2A: Report roadmap

Period notation and core abbreviations

Term Meaning Use in this report
2Q25 / 2Q26 Second quarter of 2025 / 2026 Three-month reporting period; equivalent to Q2 2025 / Q2 2026
FY2025 Financial year 2025 Company fiscal year; may differ from calendar-year presentation
YoY / QoQ Year on year / quarter on quarter Growth against the same quarter last year / immediately preceding quarter
TTM Trailing twelve months Most recent four reported quarters
IaaS / MaaS Infrastructure as a Service / Model as a Service Compute rental versus paid model APIs and model-platform services
Capex / FCF Capital expenditure / free cash flow Cash investment in long-lived assets / operating cash flow less capital expenditure
Token A unit of text or model input/output processing Usage measure; it is not revenue unless paid price and collections are disclosed
Exhibit 2B: Financial-period notation and operating terminology

Source: Company reporting conventions; Mortise Capital Research

Section 1: Research Scope and Market Definition

1.1 Definition of AI cloud

This report defines AI cloud in three categories: AI IaaS; MaaS or AI PaaS; and enterprise AI solutions closely integrated with cloud platforms. Traditional data-centre services, non-AI SaaS and consumer applications are excluded from the core market.

Category Representative products Revenue model Principal costs Core metrics
AI IaaS GPU instances, AI clusters, storage and networking GPU hours; annual or monthly contracts Chips, facilities, electricity, depreciation Utilisation, unit price, customer wait time
MaaS / AI PaaS Model APIs, fine-tuning, deployment and agent platforms Tokens, APIs and subscriptions Inference compute and model development Paid usage, retention and gross margin
Enterprise AI solutions Finance, manufacturing, retail and government applications Subscription plus implementation Sales, implementation and support Recurring revenue, delivery time and collections
Exhibit 3: Three AI cloud business categories

Source: CAICT; Omdia; Mortise Capital Research

1.2 Limits of market data

China's 2024 cloud-computing market value of RMB828.8 billions includes substantial non-AI activity and cannot be treated as AI cloud revenue. Third-party definitions of AI cloud, cloud infrastructure and cloud-related revenue also differ. Market size, company revenue and market share should only be compared when definitions are consistent.

Section 2: Market Size and Industry Phase

Section conclusion. The AI cloud market expanded rapidly in 2025, but infrastructure remains the largest revenue category. Growth in inference, model usage and enterprise agents should be the main source of structural change in 2025-2027.

2.1 Market size

Omdia public information indicates that China's AI cloud market reached approximately RMB56.7bn in 2025, compared with RMB20.83bn in 2024. Based on the disclosed mix, AI IaaS was approximately RMB39.2bn and MaaS approximately RMB17.5bn. The revenue mix remains capital-intensive, and industry profitability is still affected by depreciation, electricity and implementation costs.

Figure 1: China cloud-computing market size and growth, 2021-2024
Figure 1: China cloud-computing market size and growth, 2021-2024

Source: CAICT, Cloud Computing White Paper 2025; Mortise Capital Research

Figure 2: China AI cloud revenue composition, 2025
Figure 2: China AI cloud revenue composition, 2025

Source: Omdia public summary; amounts calculated from the disclosed shares; Mortise Capital Research

Figure 3: Mainland China cloud-infrastructure spending and growth, 2025
Figure 3: Mainland China cloud-infrastructure spending and growth, 2025

Source: Omdia quarterly public summaries; Mortise Capital Research

2.2 Commercial development phase

Phase Main characteristics Primary metrics Current assessment
Infrastructure build-out Rapid expansion of GPUs and data centres Capital expenditure and available compute Major providers completed the first expansion phase
Training demand growth Concentrated purchases by model developers GPU rental and training-cluster customers Demand continues; customer concentration remains high
Inference and platform growth Model APIs, agents and enterprise applications enter production Token revenue, MaaS revenue and renewal rates Primary phase for 2025-2027
Capital-return confirmation Revenue growth exceeds depreciation and operating-cost growth Operating margin, free cash flow and ROIC Only a limited number of providers show initial improvement
Exhibit 4: AI cloud commercial development phases

Training contracts are large but concentrated and can create quarterly volatility. Inference produces smaller individual transactions but can recur with user and task volumes. It is therefore more repeatable, while unit prices may decline faster. Paid token revenue, inference cost and associated software revenue should be assessed together.

Section 3: Demand, Supply and Profitability

Section conclusion. Policy support, lower model costs and wider enterprise deployment are increasing AI cloud demand. Capital expenditure increases available compute but does not by itself create revenue or profit.

3.1 Factors supporting demand

• Policy. The AI Plus initiative supports coordinated compute capacity, large AI clusters and government and enterprise procurement.

• Cost. Lower-cost models, compression and inference optimisation reduce deployment costs and technical requirements, while API prices continue to decline.

• Applications. Demand is extending from model training to production systems in finance, manufacturing, retail, automotive and government.

• Products. Cloud providers increasingly combine GPU resources, model APIs, databases, agent platforms and industry solutions in a single commercial offer.

3.2 Revenue and profit variables

AI cloud revenue consists of compute revenue, model-usage revenue, and software and solution revenue. Compute revenue depends on available capacity, utilisation and unit price. Model-usage revenue depends on paid volume and price per token. Software and solution revenue depends on subscriptions, databases and implementation services.

Variable Positive change Negative change Observable indicators
Available compute Chip supply improves; data centres open on schedule Supply limits or cluster delivery delays Capital expenditure, availability zones, customer wait time
Utilisation Long-term contracts, more inference demand and better scheduling Volatile training demand or idle capacity GPU rental revenue and supply-constraint comments
Unit price Premium compute and differentiated services support pricing Provider price reductions and model efficiency Published prices and contract repricing
Software revenue share MaaS, database and agent-tool revenue increases Model standardisation and open-source alternatives AI product revenue share and subscription revenue
Cost efficiency Internal chips, scheduling and energy efficiency improve Depreciation, electricity and inference costs rise Cloud margin, depreciation and free cash flow
Exhibit 5: Principal revenue and profit variables

3.3 Industry value chain and cost structure

AI cloud combines five commercial activities with different cost structures. Hardware and data-centre capacity require substantial upfront investment. AI IaaS converts that capacity into rental revenue. MaaS converts model access into usage revenue. Enterprise software and implementation convert technical capability into customer workflows. Channel partners and systems integrators influence customer acquisition, delivery capacity and collections.

Activity Purchased inputs Revenue model Main cost behaviour Research implication
Hardware and facilities Accelerators, servers, networking, power and buildings Not normally sold as a separate cloud service High upfront capital expenditure and depreciation Capacity, procurement cost and useful life affect all downstream margins
AI IaaS Compute clusters, storage and network capacity GPU hours; reserved instances; annual contracts High fixed cost; variable electricity and support Utilisation and unit price determine operating leverage
MaaS / AI PaaS Models, inference compute, data tools and governance Tokens, API calls, fine-tuning and platform subscriptions Inference cost varies with usage; model development is largely fixed Paid volume and inference efficiency determine gross margin
Enterprise software Agent tools, databases, security and workflow integration Seats, subscriptions, transactions and usage Product development is fixed; sales and support vary by customer Recurring revenue and renewal can increase revenue quality
Implementation and partners Industry knowledge, deployment and support staff Project fees, managed service and revenue sharing Labour and receivables increase with project volume High project content can weaken margins and cash conversion
Exhibit 5A: AI cloud value chain and financial characteristics

Source: Company disclosures; Omdia; Mortise Capital Research

3.4 Unit economics by business model

The same revenue growth rate can produce different financial outcomes. AI IaaS can grow quickly while depreciation and electricity remain high. MaaS can produce higher incremental margins when inference efficiency improves, but token prices can decline rapidly. Enterprise software can improve recurring revenue, although customised delivery increases sales, implementation and collection costs.

Business model Revenue equation Primary margin variable Positive evidence Warning evidence
AI IaaS Available compute × utilisation × realised unit price Revenue per installed compute unit Utilisation rises while realised price is stable Capacity expands faster than paid demand
MaaS Paid tokens or API calls × realised price Inference cost per paid unit Paid volume grows faster than price declines Usage grows but revenue and gross margin do not
Agent and software subscriptions Paid seats or workflows × recurring fee Renewal and support cost Recurring revenue and paid users increase Trial users increase without paid conversion
Enterprise solutions Subscription plus implementation and managed-service fees Delivery cost and collections Standard products reduce deployment time Receivables and labour cost grow faster than revenue
Exhibit 5B: Unit-economics framework for AI cloud revenue

3.5 Enterprise adoption and purchasing process

Enterprise adoption normally requires more than model access. Customers must identify a workflow with measurable value, prepare data and access controls, test accuracy and reliability, integrate the system with existing software, and assign operating responsibility. Revenue quality improves when a project moves from a limited pilot to a production budget with recurring usage and renewal.

Stage Customer decision Provider requirement Evidence of progress Principal risk
Use-case selection Is the workflow valuable and measurable? Industry knowledge and product demonstration Named budget owner and defined success metric Project has no economic owner
Data and governance Can data be used securely and legally? Security, private deployment and access controls Approved data scope and deployment design Compliance review delays deployment
Pilot Does the system meet accuracy and reliability requirements? Model evaluation, integration and support Paid pilot and repeatable task completion High manual intervention
Production Can the system operate at required cost and availability? Service-level agreement, monitoring and capacity Recurring usage and production contract Cost per task remains too high
Expansion Can the solution be used across more teams or workflows? Templates, partner delivery and account management Renewal, additional users and additional workloads Each deployment remains customised
Exhibit 5C: Enterprise AI cloud adoption and revenue conversion

Source: Omdia public summaries; company customer cases; Mortise Capital Research

3.6 Contract quality and cash conversion

Long contracts can improve capacity planning, but contract value alone does not establish revenue quality. Analysts should separate minimum committed payments from optional usage, distinguish external customers from internal consumption, and compare revenue growth with receivables, implementation cost and operating cash flow. A higher share of standard subscriptions and usage revenue normally requires less working capital than customised projects, but it also exposes providers more directly to price competition.

3.7 Workload stages and revenue durability

AI workloads move through experimentation, training or fine-tuning, production inference, application integration and renewal. Revenue quality normally improves as a customer progresses from a short proof of concept to recurring production usage, but infrastructure intensity and support requirements also change. A provider should therefore disclose production customers, paid usage, renewal behaviour and gross margin rather than combining all workloads into a single AI-revenue label.

Workload stage Typical purchase Revenue characteristic Cost and risk Preferred verification
Experiment Small GPU allocation, API credits and developer tools Short duration and often promotional High customer churn; low initial revenue Conversion to a paid production project
Training / fine-tuning Dedicated clusters, storage and networking Large but project-based consumption Capacity concentration and scheduling risk Contracted usage, utilisation and customer concentration
Production inference Tokens, endpoints and reserved inference capacity Recurring with application activity Rapid unit-price decline and model-efficiency gains Paid tokens, realised price and inference gross margin
Enterprise integration Databases, agents, security and implementation Software and service revenue can increase Customisation, receivables and delivery cost Standard-product share, implementation time and collections
Renewal and expansion Additional departments, models and workloads Best evidence of durable customer value Competition and switching incentives Net revenue retention, renewal rate and wallet share
Exhibit 5D: AI workload stages and revenue-quality tests

Source: Company product disclosures; Mortise Capital Research

3.8 Pricing adjustments and realised revenue

Published GPU-hour and token prices do not equal realised revenue. Committed-use discounts, free credits, partner rebates, migration incentives, bundled database or security products and customer-specific implementation terms can materially change net price. Analysts should reconcile list-price changes with reported revenue, gross margin and deferred or contract liabilities. Faster usage growth is economically positive only when it offsets lower realised prices and the incremental cost of serving that usage.

Pricing layer Examples Financial effect Required evidence
Published price GPU hour, token, API or subscription list price Starting point; rarely the realised price Price history by product and region
Commercial discount Reserved capacity, volume tiers and annual commitments Reduces unit revenue but can improve visibility Committed amount, duration and minimum payment
Acquisition incentive Free credits, migration support and partner-funded promotions Raises usage before revenue and may increase sales cost Paid conversion and customer-acquisition cost
Product bundle Compute plus database, security, observability or agents Can increase revenue per customer and retention Attach rate and product-level gross margin
Collections and credits Service-level credits, delayed projects and receivables Reduces cash conversion and may signal delivery problems Receivable days, cash collections and service credits
Exhibit 5E: AI cloud pricing adjustments and realised revenue

Source: Provider pricing structures; Mortise Capital Research

3.9 Supply-chain and infrastructure constraints

Compute availability depends on more than accelerator procurement. High-bandwidth memory, networking, storage, power delivery, cooling, software compatibility and cluster scheduling determine usable capacity. Domestic-chip substitution can improve supply resilience but may require model adaptation and software optimisation. Reported accelerator counts should therefore be assessed together with delivered capacity, utilisation, job completion, customer wait time and total cost per workload.

Section 4: Competition

Section conclusion. Traditional cloud market share remains relevant but does not directly measure AI cloud competitiveness. AI cloud requires compute supply, models, development platforms, enterprise customers and delivery capability.

4.1 Two market-share definitions

Omdia reported 3Q25 mainland China cloud-infrastructure shares of 36% for Alibaba Cloud, 16% for Huawei Cloud and 9% for Tencent Cloud. Under an AI cloud definition, Volcano Engine and Baidu have stronger positions in model usage and AI infrastructure revenue. The rankings differ because the measured activities differ.

Figure 4: Mainland China cloud-infrastructure market share, 1Q25-4Q25
Figure 4: Mainland China cloud-infrastructure market share, 1Q25-4Q25

Source: Omdia quarterly public summaries; Mortise Capital Research

4.2 Provider capability comparison

Provider Compute and chips Foundation model Platforms and tools Main customer channels Principal limitation
Alibaba Cloud Internal chips; heterogeneous clusters Qwen Model Studio, databases and agent platform E-commerce, DingTalk and developers High capital expenditure; AI applications remain loss-making
Huawei Cloud Ascend and CloudMatrix Pangu ModelArts and model services Government, enterprises, telecom operators and overseas customers Limited segment profit disclosure and comparability
Tencent Cloud GPU cloud and internal AI infrastructure Hunyuan MaaS, CodeBuddy and WorkBuddy WeChat, gaming and enterprise services Limited standalone cloud revenue and profit disclosure
Baidu AI Cloud Kunlun chips and GPU cloud ERNIE Qianfan and PaddlePaddle Search, knowledge services and autonomous driving Legacy-business decline and high group costs
Volcano Engine Large-scale inference resources Doubao Ark and agent platform ByteDance applications and advertising customers Limited public financial data and shorter enterprise-delivery history
Exhibit 6: Capability comparison of major China AI cloud providers

Source: Company filings and websites; Mortise Capital Research

Enterprise customers primarily purchase service availability, data governance, cluster stability, implementation capability and predictable costs. A leading model alone is insufficient for a sustained competitive advantage; providers must convert technology and services into recurring paid revenue.

4.3 Customer-segment requirements

Provider rankings can differ by customer segment. Internet companies emphasise rapid deployment, developer tools and inference cost; financial institutions emphasise data governance, security and business continuity; manufacturers require edge integration and industrial-system compatibility; government and state-owned enterprises place greater weight on procurement compliance, domestic technology and local delivery. A single national market-share figure therefore does not describe competitive position in each revenue pool.

Customer segment Priority requirements Typical workload Commercial implication
Internet and consumer applications Scale, latency, developer speed and low inference cost Recommendation, advertising, content and customer service High usage potential but rapid price competition
Financial services Security, auditability, private data and high availability Knowledge assistants, risk, compliance and customer service Longer procurement; higher potential software and service revenue
Manufacturing Edge-cloud integration, industrial data and reliable deployment Quality inspection, process optimisation and maintenance Implementation capability and partner ecosystem are critical
Government and state-owned enterprises Domestic technology, procurement compliance and local support Knowledge systems, document processing and public services Large projects; revenue timing and receivables require scrutiny
Small and medium enterprises Simple deployment, predictable price and packaged applications Office productivity, sales, coding and customer service Standardisation can improve margin, but churn may be higher
Exhibit 6A: Customer-segment buying criteria

Source: Company customer cases; public procurement patterns; Mortise Capital Research

4.4 Distribution and partner economics

Omdia reported that partner-driven revenue represented approximately 25% of mainland China cloud-infrastructure revenue in 4Q25. Partners can accelerate enterprise implementation and industry coverage, but they also absorb part of gross profit and may lengthen collections. Provider assessment should distinguish direct cloud consumption, marketplace sales, resale, systems integration and jointly delivered industry solutions.

Section 5: Company Analysis

5.1 Alibaba Cloud

Section conclusion. Alibaba provides the most complete public operating information among major China AI cloud providers, and revenue growth and profit improvement occurred together.

In 2Q26, Alibaba combined Cloud Intelligence and T-Head under AI Cloud and Computing Services and reported AI laboratories and consumer AI applications separately. The structure improves financial analysis: cloud infrastructure is profitable and improving, while model development and consumer AI applications remain in a high-investment phase.

2Q26 metric Value YoY change Assessment
AI Cloud and Computing Services revenue RMB48.437bn +45% External customer revenue also increased 45%
AI-related product revenue RMB12.376bn Triple-digit growth for 12 consecutive quarters Approximately 25.5% of segment revenue
Adjusted EBITA RMB5.628bn +133% Margin approximately 11.6%, up about 4.4 percentage points
Capital expenditure RMB67.678bn +75% Additional supply reduced free cash flow
AI cloud market share 38.1% Full-year 2025 Ranked first under Omdia's definition
Exhibit 7: Alibaba AI Cloud and Computing Services indicators

Source: Alibaba June-quarter 2026 results; Omdia; Mortise Capital Research

Figure 5: Alibaba AI Cloud and Computing Services revenue and adjusted EBITA
Figure 5: Alibaba AI Cloud and Computing Services revenue and adjusted EBITA

Source: Alibaba June-quarter 2026 results; Mortise Capital Research

5.1.1 Revenue quality and operating leverage

Alibaba's 2Q26 evidence is stronger than a revenue-growth result alone. External customer revenue also increased 45%, AI-related product revenue represented approximately 25.5% of segment revenue, and adjusted EBITA margin increased from approximately 7.2% to 11.6%. This combination indicates that higher paid demand and cost efficiency exceeded the increase in segment operating cost during the quarter.

The remaining issue is group-level cost coverage. The AI laboratory and applications segment reported an adjusted EBITA loss of RMB13.861bn, substantially larger than the cloud segment's RMB5.628bn adjusted EBITA. Cloud profitability therefore does not yet establish that Alibaba's total AI investment earns a positive return. The relevant test is whether model and application spending produces additional cloud, subscription or transaction revenue over multiple quarters.

Alibaba's principal advantages are public-cloud scale, Qwen, databases and enterprise software, and internal chips and heterogeneous-cluster scheduling. Future monitoring should separate cloud-segment operating improvement from the cost and revenue generated by model laboratories and consumer AI applications.

5.2 Tencent Cloud

Section conclusion. Tencent Cloud revenue growth accelerated and application links are strong, but capital returns require further confirmation.

Tencent reported more than 20% year-on-year cloud revenue growth in 2Q26, supported by AI demand, international expansion and general cloud services. GPU rental, MaaS, WorkBuddy and CodeBuddy all increased, while the company continued to report limited compute supply. Capital expenditure rose from RMB19.1bn to RMB52.8bn and free cash flow was negative RMB13.8bn.

WeChat, gaming, advertising and productivity products provide internal demand, product testing and customer access. The principal limitation is the absence of standalone cloud revenue and profit disclosure. Investors should monitor whether growth remains above 20%, whether MaaS becomes material revenue, and whether free cash flow recovers after capital-expenditure growth declines.

5.2.1 Product adoption and monetisation evidence

Tencent's 2Q26 disclosure provides evidence of product adoption but less evidence of cloud profitability. Paid-period daily token usage for the Hy3 model was approximately seven times the preview level, cloud revenue growth accelerated to the low-twenties percentage range, and AI-related demand increased revenue from GPU rental, MaaS and productivity products. Tencent also stated that it remained compute constrained, which supports near-term demand but limits the ability to separate price, capacity and utilisation effects.

Indicator 2Q26 evidence Financial relevance Required follow-up
Cloud revenue Low-twenties percentage YoY growth Shows acceleration in paid cloud demand Standalone revenue and margin disclosure
MaaS usage Hy3 daily token usage about 7× preview level during the paid period Supports external model demand Paid revenue, realised price and inference cost
Productivity products WorkBuddy and CodeBuddy usage and willingness to pay increased Can add software revenue above compute revenue Paid users, retention and subscription revenue
Compute supply Company remained compute constrained Limits near-term revenue and may support realised pricing Capacity additions, utilisation and customer wait time
Capital expenditure RMB52.8bn, up 176% YoY Increases depreciation and cash-return requirement Cloud profit and free-cash-flow recovery
Exhibit 7A: Tencent Cloud and AI monetisation indicators

Source: Tencent 2Q26 results presentation; Mortise Capital Research

5.3 Baidu AI Cloud

Section conclusion. Baidu AI cloud revenue is growing rapidly, but legacy-business decline and higher AI costs continue to affect group profitability.

Baidu reported 2Q26 AI cloud infrastructure revenue of RMB7.3bn, up 50% year on year, including 283% growth in GPU cloud revenue. AI-related activities represented 50% of Baidu's general-business revenue. However, group revenue declined 4% and legacy revenue declined 23%, so AI growth has not yet fully offset contraction in existing businesses.

Figure 6: Baidu AI Cloud Infra quarterly revenue, 2Q25-2Q26
Figure 6: Baidu AI Cloud Infra quarterly revenue, 2Q25-2Q26

Source: Baidu quarterly results; Mortise Capital Research

5.3.1 Growth quality and transition cost

Baidu AI Cloud Infra revenue was RMB4.9bn in 2Q25, RMB4.2bn in 3Q25, RMB5.8bn in 4Q25, RMB8.8bn in 1Q26 and RMB7.3bn in 2Q26. The year-on-year growth rate is strong, but the quarterly series also shows variability. Capacity delivery, customer project timing and the mix between recurring GPU cloud and other infrastructure services should therefore be assessed before extrapolating a single quarter.

The assessment depends on two conditions: AI cloud gross margin and cash flow must improve, and AI revenue growth must remain above the decline in legacy revenue and the increase in new costs. Revenue growth alone does not support a higher profit estimate.

5.4 Huawei Cloud and Volcano Engine

Huawei reported 2025 Cloud Computing segment revenue of RMB32.161bn, down 3.5%. Including cloud-related revenue generated in other segments, the amount was RMB72.075bn. The substantial difference means that this measure should not be directly compared with pure public-cloud segment revenue. Huawei's advantages are the coordination of Ascend, CloudMatrix, Pangu and enterprise delivery; the limitations are chip supply, software compatibility and limited segment profit disclosure.

Huawei's 2025 annual report provides additional operating scale but not segment profit. Huawei Cloud covered 34 regions and 101 availability zones, served customers in more than 170 countries and regions, and reported more than 1,800 customers using its AI Cluster Service. It also reported more than 10 million developers and 59,000 partners. These indicators support delivery capability and distribution, but they do not resolve the difference between the RMB32.161bn Cloud Computing segment and RMB72.075bn of cloud-related revenue across segments.

Omdia ranked Volcano Engine second in China's 2025 AI cloud market. Its main advantages are Doubao usage, feedback from ByteDance applications and low pricing. ByteDance is not listed and provides limited financial data, so this report does not estimate Volcano Engine revenue or profit. It is included because it affects MaaS pricing and market-share changes.

Provider Current operating evidence Principal advantage Metrics requiring confirmation Current assessment
Alibaba Cloud Revenue +45%; adjusted EBITA +133% Scale, models and enterprise products External revenue, AI revenue share and margin Most complete public operating evidence
Tencent Cloud Cloud revenue grew more than 20%; compute constrained Application links and customer access MaaS revenue, cloud profit and free cash flow Strong long-term capability; high current investment
Baidu AI Cloud AI cloud infrastructure +50% High AI revenue share Gross margin, cash flow and legacy decline High revenue sensitivity; material group transition cost
Huawei Cloud AI Compute Service customers increased Domestic hardware and software coordination Chip supply and segment profit Strong technology; limited comparable financial data
Volcano Engine Ranked second in 2025 AI cloud Model usage and pricing External customers, revenue and delivery capability Important competitor; limited financial data
Exhibit 8: Operating assessment of major China providers

Source: Company filings; Omdia; Mortise Capital Research

Provider Revenue disclosure Profit disclosure Usage disclosure Analytical limitation
Alibaba Cloud Standalone segment revenue and external growth Adjusted EBITA AI product revenue and market share Segment structure changed in 2Q26
Tencent Cloud Growth rate only within Business Services Not disclosed Token and product adoption indicators Cloud revenue and margin cannot be calculated
Baidu AI Cloud Quarterly AI Cloud Infra revenue Not disclosed for AI Cloud Infra GPU Cloud growth Group transition costs affect valuation
Huawei Cloud Segment and cross-segment cloud-related revenue Not disclosed Customers, regions, developers and partners Revenue definitions differ materially
Volcano Engine Not disclosed Not disclosed Model usage and third-party rankings No public financial base for profit analysis
Exhibit 8A: Financial disclosure quality by provider

Source: Company filings; Omdia; Mortise Capital Research

5.5 Provider-specific diligence priorities

The available evidence does not support identical follow-up questions for every provider. Alibaba's priority is the relationship between profitable cloud infrastructure and the losses generated by model laboratories and consumer AI applications. Tencent requires standalone cloud revenue, margin and cash-return disclosure. Baidu requires proof that AI cloud gross profit can offset legacy contraction and additional AI cost. Huawei and Volcano Engine require a more complete and comparable financial base.

Provider Highest-priority unanswered question Evidence that would improve the assessment Evidence that would weaken it
Alibaba Cloud Can cloud profit fund model and application investment at group level? Sustained external growth, higher segment margin and declining total AI losses Cloud margin stalls while laboratory and application losses expand
Tencent Cloud Does application adoption produce material standalone cloud profit? Cloud revenue, operating profit and free-cash-flow recovery disclosed together Usage grows but capex and negative free cash flow remain elevated
Baidu AI Cloud Can AI cloud offset legacy-business decline and group cost growth? Recurring AI cloud revenue, positive gross-margin trend and improving cash flow Quarterly volatility remains high and legacy decline accelerates
Huawei Cloud How profitable is comparable external cloud activity? Stable segment definition, external revenue and segment profit disclosure Cross-segment measures continue to prevent comparison
Volcano Engine How much model usage converts into external enterprise revenue? Auditable external revenue, customer retention and delivery metrics Low pricing expands usage without durable revenue or margin
Exhibit 8B: Provider-specific open diligence items

Source: Company disclosures; Mortise Capital Research

Section 6: Comparison with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud

Section conclusion. Large global cloud providers demonstrate that high capital expenditure can coexist with high profit, provided that the business has internal chips, standardised platforms, global customers and high-value software. China's higher share of government, state-owned enterprise and private deployment usually extends the time required for margin improvement.

Platform Latest revenue or growth Profit disclosure AI product combination Relevance for China provders
AWS 2Q26 revenue US$42.2bn; +37% YoY Operating margin 39.4% Bedrock, Trainium and Inferentia Multiple-model services and internal chips can reduce cost
Azure FY4Q26 Azure revenue +43% Azure profit not disclosed separately OpenAI services, Copilot and enterprise software Enterprise software can increase revenue per customer
Google Cloud 2Q26 revenue US$24.8bn; +82% YoY Operating margin 35.6% Gemini, Vertex AI and TPU Integrated models, chips and data products increase differentiation
Alibaba AI Cloud 2Q26 revenue RMB48.437bn; +45% YoY Adjusted EBITA margin 11.6% Qwen, Model Studio and internal chips Public structure is the closest China comparison with global platforms
Exhibit 9: Global cloud-provider operating comparison

Source: Amazon; Microsoft; Alphabet; Alibaba; data through 20 August 2026. Definitions differ across companies.

Figure 7: Latest disclosed cloud growth across global and China providers
Figure 7: Latest disclosed cloud growth across global and China providers

Source: Amazon; Microsoft; Alphabet; Alibaba; Baidu; Tencent. Definitions differ across companies.

China differs from the United States in three important respects: government and state-owned enterprise customers represent a larger share of demand, private deployment is more common, and implementation and domestic-chip adaptation costs are higher. China AI cloud revenue may therefore grow rapidly while near-term margins remain below AWS and Google Cloud.

6.1 What global providers demonstrate

Global providers show that cloud profitability depends on more than infrastructure scale. AWS combines infrastructure, managed services and internal chips and reported a 39.4% operating margin in 2Q26. Azure benefits from enterprise software distribution and customer identity, security and data products. Google Cloud combines models, TPUs, data products and security. In each case, higher-value services increase revenue per customer and reduce dependence on basic compute pricing.

Provider practice Financial effect Relevance for China providers China-specific constraint Monitoring indicator
Internal accelerators and system design Lower unit compute cost and more supply options Alibaba, Huawei, Baidu and Tencent are developing internal or domestic alternatives Software compatibility and supply scale Inference cost, availability and cloud margin
Managed model and agent platforms Adds usage and subscription revenue above infrastructure Model Studio, Qianfan, ADP and ModelArts provide comparable product categories Rapid model-price declines and open-source alternatives MaaS revenue, paid tokens and renewal
Enterprise software distribution Lowers customer-acquisition cost and increases revenue per account DingTalk, WeCom, WeChat, databases and productivity products provide distribution Private deployment and customised delivery Cross-sell, paid users and implementation cost
Security, governance and data services Supports premium pricing and customer retention Important for finance, government and regulated industries Domestic compliance and fragmented customer systems Security revenue, retention and deployment time
Global regions and partner channels Expands customer base and improves utilisation Relevant for Chinese companies expanding overseas Regulation, localisation and geopolitical restrictions International revenue and partner-driven revenue
Exhibit 9A: Global cloud practices and applicability to China

Source: Amazon; Microsoft; Alphabet; company product disclosures; Mortise Capital Research

6.2 Why China margins may remain lower

China providers face a higher share of private or hybrid deployment, government and state-owned enterprise procurement, domestic-chip adaptation and project delivery. These activities can extend sales cycles and increase engineering, support and receivables. At the same time, intense model and token pricing limits the ability to recover infrastructure cost through price alone. Margin improvement therefore depends more heavily on utilisation, standardised software and partner delivery.

Section 7: Capital Expenditure, Profit and Cash Flow

Section conclusion. Capital expenditure is necessary to increase supply and is also the largest current financial risk. Capital returns require simultaneous evidence from revenue, profit and cash flow.

Alibaba 2Q26 capital expenditure was RMB67.678bn, up 75%, and free cash outflow was RMB44.67bn. Tencent capital expenditure was RMB52.8bn, up 176%, and free cash outflow was RMB13.8bn. Negative near-term free cash flow does not establish that investment has failed, but it increases the future revenue and profit required to justify the spending.

7.1 Capital intensity and depreciation

Capital expenditure increases future capacity and also creates depreciation, maintenance and power requirements. Reported cloud margin can improve while group free cash flow remains negative if revenue grows faster than operating cost but capital expenditure remains high. Analysts should therefore evaluate three periods separately: the construction period, the capacity-ramp period and the mature-utilisation period.

Figure 8: Alibaba and Tencent capital expenditure, 2Q25 and 2Q26
Figure 8: Alibaba and Tencent capital expenditure, 2Q25 and 2Q26

Source: Alibaba and Tencent second-quarter 2026 results; Mortise Capital Research

Area Positive evidence Negative evidence
Revenue External cloud revenue, MaaS revenue and subscriptions continue to increase Growth is concentrated in low-margin GPU rental or internal use
Profit Cloud margin increases and unit inference cost declines Depreciation, electricity and implementation costs grow faster than revenue
Cash flow Capital-expenditure growth falls below cloud-revenue growth and free cash flow recovers Capital expenditure remains high and free cash flow stays negative
Exhibit 10: Capital-return assessment criteria

7.2 Return-on-invested-capital verification

A practical capital-return test compares incremental after-tax operating profit with the incremental capital required to produce it. Public disclosure is insufficient for a precise AI cloud ROIC calculation, but a directional assessment is possible. Cloud revenue and margin should increase, capital-expenditure growth should decline after major capacity additions, and free cash flow should recover. If revenue remains concentrated in low-margin rental, the same capital expenditure supports a lower return than when it also generates MaaS, database and software revenue.

Stage Expected financial pattern Positive evidence Negative evidence
Construction High capital expenditure; limited new revenue Capacity is contracted or demand is supply constrained Opening delays or weak customer commitments
Capacity ramp Revenue rises; depreciation and power also increase Utilisation, external revenue and cloud margin increase together Revenue grows but margin declines
Mature utilisation Capital-expenditure growth moderates; cash flow improves Software mix and free cash flow increase Replacement spending remains high and prices decline
Expansion decision New investment begins only if returns are adequate Incremental profit supports further capacity Investment continues without profit or cash-flow evidence
Exhibit 10A: Capital-investment verification by operating stage

7.3 Timing of depreciation and cash returns

Capital expenditure affects financial statements at different times. Cash outflow occurs when equipment and facilities are purchased; depreciation is recognised over the useful life; revenue begins only after installation, testing and customer activation. A quarter with heavy investment can therefore show weak free cash flow before the related revenue is visible. The assessment should focus on the subsequent utilisation and margin ramp, while also recognising that repeated expansion can keep free cash flow depressed even when individual capacity cohorts improve.

Stage Timing What can improve What can deteriorate Verification metric
Capital expenditure to installed capacity Immediate to several quarters Equipment delivered and clusters commissioned on time Delivery, power or software delays Commissioning schedule and usable capacity
Installed capacity to revenue After testing and customer activation Reserved demand and high utilisation Idle capacity or customer postponement Utilisation, wait time and external revenue
Revenue to operating profit As utilisation and product mix mature Software attach, lower unit inference cost and scale Price declines, power and support cost Cloud margin and unit cost
Operating profit to free cash flow After working capital and ongoing capex Collections improve and expansion moderates Receivables, replacement capex and continuing expansion Operating cash flow, receivable days and FCF
Exhibit 11: Industry scenario analysis
Scenario Demand Pricing and utilisation Profit outcome Research assessment
Stronger Enterprise agents and inference expand rapidly Prices decline but utilisation increases substantially Revenue and profit growth both accelerate Higher cloud valuation is supported
Base Training is stable and inference expands gradually Usage partly offsets lower prices Revenue grows rapidly; profit improves gradually Prefer providers with confirmed profit improvement
Weaker Enterprise projects remain in trials Prices decline and idle capacity increases Depreciation grows faster than revenue Reduce revenue, profit and valuation assumptions

Section 8: Investment Assessment and Quarterly Monitoring

Section conclusion. Over the next 12-18 months, Alibaba has the highest relative operating certainty. Tencent has significant long-term application links but must confirm capital returns. Baidu must demonstrate that AI growth can improve group profit and cash flow.

Listed company Current assessment Principal basis Positive condition Condition invalidating the assessment
Alibaba Relative preference AI cloud share, external revenue and profit all improved Cloud revenue remains strong and margin increases Cloud growth falls below 20% while capital expenditure remains high
Tencent Monitor for improvement Strong application links and enterprise customers More cloud disclosure and free cash-flow recovery Capital expenditure remains high and MaaS revenue is not material
Baidu Monitor AI cloud infrastructure revenue is growing rapidly AI growth continues to offset legacy decline Costs grow faster than AI revenue and legacy business weakens further
Huawei Cloud / Volcano Engine Non-listed comparisons Affect domestic compute supply and MaaS competition Changes in chips, pricing and major customers No direct listed-security assessment
Exhibit 12: Relative investment assessment

8.1 Valuation approach

Valuation should reflect disclosure quality and the stage of profitability. A provider with segment revenue and operating profit can be assessed using profit and cash-flow scenarios. A provider that discloses growth but not revenue or margin requires a wider range of outcomes. Group companies should be assessed with a sum-of-the-parts approach because advertising, games, e-commerce, consumer AI and other activities have different economics.

Business or disclosure type Preferred method Key inputs Main limitation
Profitable cloud segment DCF, EV/EBIT or EV/EBITA with capital-intensity checks Revenue growth, operating margin, capital expenditure and cash flow Short-term margin can benefit from supply constraints or accounting boundaries
High-growth segment with limited profit EV/revenue with explicit mature-margin scenarios External revenue, recurring mix, gross margin and required capital Revenue multiples can overstate value when project content is high
Cloud activity inside a diversified group Sum of the parts Cloud value plus separate values for other businesses and central costs Internal transactions and shared infrastructure reduce precision
Non-listed provider with limited financials Operating comparison only Market share, customer evidence, product usage and delivery capability No reliable basis for standalone equity value
Exhibit 12A: Valuation framework by disclosure quality

8.2 Quarterly monitoring scorecard

Metric Frequency Positive indicator Warning indicator Primary source
AI cloud revenue growth Quarterly Above 30%, with external customers also growing Below 20% or mainly internal use Company results
MaaS and AI product revenue share Quarterly Share continues to increase Usage disclosed without revenue Filings and calls
Cloud operating margin Quarterly Margin increases with revenue Depreciation and inference costs reduce margin Segment profit
Capital expenditure and free cash flow Quarterly Capital-expenditure growth declines and free cash flow recovers Capital expenditure continues to grow faster than revenue Cash-flow statement
GPU and token prices Monthly Lower prices produce a clear increase in paid usage Lower prices without sufficient utilisation or revenue Provider websites
Customer and industry deployment Quarterly Manufacturing and finance enter production use Projects remain trials Customer cases and contracts
Exhibit 13: Quarterly monitoring indicators

8.3 Decision-state framework

The relative preference should change only when new evidence alters demand durability, pricing, operating profit or cash return. A single strong usage statistic or customer announcement is insufficient. The decision states below require multiple financial and operating indicators to move in the same direction.

Decision state Required operating evidence Financial interpretation Research action
Upgrade External revenue, paid MaaS usage and production customers accelerate Cloud margin rises and capex growth moves below revenue growth Increase confidence in capital returns and valuation range
Maintain Demand grows but disclosure or utilisation remains incomplete Profit improves gradually while free cash flow remains weak Keep relative ranking; continue quarterly verification
Review Growth depends mainly on price cuts, internal demand or project revenue Margin or collections weaken despite reported usage growth Reduce estimates and reassess business quality
Invalidate Demand, utilisation and renewal fail for multiple quarters Depreciation and capex grow faster than revenue and profit Withdraw the main positive demand-to-profit thesis
Exhibit 13A: Evidence-based decision states

8.4 Evidence gaps requiring further diligence

Seven areas remain insufficiently disclosed across the sector. These gaps should be addressed through management questions, customer references, partner checks, pricing observations and subsequent filings before a precise sector ROIC or provider valuation premium is assigned.

• External revenue reconciliation. Separate internal consumption, related-party demand and external paid revenue by product category.

• Capacity and utilisation. Disclose commissioned AI capacity, utilisation, customer wait time and the proportion under minimum commitments.

• MaaS monetisation. Reconcile paid token volume, realised price, inference cost, free credits and gross margin.

• Customer cohorts. Provide production-customer counts, renewal, expansion, concentration and proof-of-concept conversion.

• Partner economics. Distinguish marketplace, resale, systems integration and jointly delivered project revenue, including collections.

• Capital allocation. Reconcile capex with commissioned capacity, depreciation, segment profit and free cash flow by investment cohort.

• Model and application cost. Separate cloud-platform profit from model-training, consumer-application and strategic investment losses.

Section 9: Risks and Conditions That Would Invalidate the Main Assessment

Risk Transmission to financial results Monitoring metric Research response
Excess compute supply Utilisation and rental prices decline GPU prices, customer wait time and cloud margin Reduce AI IaaS revenue and profit estimates
Model and inference prices decline too rapidly Token revenue grows more slowly than usage Price per token and MaaS revenue Assess whether software revenue compensates for lower prices
Enterprise adoption is weaker than expected Projects remain trials and renewals are insufficient Paid customers, recurring revenue and renewal rates Delay the expected capital-return confirmation
Advanced-chip supply is restricted Performance, supply and costs are affected Delivery times and domestic-chip adaptation Reduce industry efficiency and expansion assumptions
Project revenue is too high Gross margin is lower; receivables and delivery costs increase Gross margin, receivables and operating cash flow Do not apply a platform-company valuation
Regulation and data compliance Deployment takes longer and cross-border service is restricted Filing requirements, industry rules and procurement Increase cost assumptions and the risk discount
Exhibit 14: Principal risks and monitoring methods

Section 10: Conclusion

Operating data from major providers confirm growth in China AI cloud demand, but capital returns remain incomplete. Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu all reported rapid AI cloud or cloud growth in 2Q26, while Alibaba and Tencent also reported substantial capital-expenditure increases and weaker free cash flow.

Based on available public information, Alibaba provides the most complete combination of revenue growth, external customer growth and segment profit improvement. Tencent's application links and customer access are valuable but require more segment disclosure and free cash-flow improvement. Baidu is growing rapidly but must demonstrate that AI revenue can offset legacy decline and additional costs.

Future assessment should concentrate on five metrics: external customer revenue, compute utilisation, the share of MaaS and software revenue, cloud operating margin, and free cash flow. GPU counts, model downloads and token usage alone do not measure commercial value.

Sources and Methodology

Data through 20 August 2026. Unless stated otherwise, China financial amounts are shown in renminbi and converted from RMB100mn disclosures into RMBbn; US-dollar data retain company-reported units. Third-party market information is based on public summaries. Company growth definitions differ, and global comparisons are used for directional analysis rather than precise ranking.

Evidence hierarchy

Evidence tier Examples Permitted use Principal limitation
Tier 1: audited or filed financial information Annual reports, quarterly filings and financial statements Revenue, profit, cash flow and segment definitions Segment structures and non-GAAP measures can change
Tier 2: official operating disclosure Earnings presentations, product releases and official customer cases Operating indicators and management explanation May emphasise favourable indicators and omit economics
Tier 3: government and recognised industry data CAICT, policy documents, Omdia and IDC summaries Market size, policy and third-party market structure Definitions and coverage may differ
Tier 4: pricing and channel observations Provider price pages, partner materials and public procurement Direction of pricing, packaging and customer demand Not a complete measure of realised revenue
Tier 5: Mortise Capital analysis Calculations, scenarios, rankings and monitoring rules Interpretation and decision framework Not company guidance or independently audited fact
Appendix Exhibit A1: Evidence hierarchy and permitted analytical use

Forecast and comparability rules

No undisclosed company revenue, profit, utilisation or market share is presented as fact. Where a calculation uses disclosed inputs, the formula is shown below. Scenario analysis is conditional rather than a forecast guarantee. Market-share, revenue and profit figures are compared only when the business perimeter, period and accounting definition are sufficiently consistent; otherwise the comparison is described as directional.

[1] China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Cloud Computing White Paper 2025

[2] State Council, Guiding Opinions on the Further Implementation of the AI Plus Initiative

[3] Omdia, China AI Cloud Market Share - 2025, public summary

[4] Omdia, Mainland China Cloud Infrastructure Market, Q3 2025

[5] Alibaba, June-quarter 2026 results

[6] Tencent, Second-quarter 2026 results presentation

[7] Baidu, Second-quarter 2026 results

[8] Huawei, 2025 Annual Report

[9] Amazon, Second-quarter 2026 results

[10] Microsoft, FY2026 fourth-quarter results

[11] Alphabet, Second-quarter 2026 earnings call

[12] IDC, China Public Cloud IaaS and AI-related Market Structure

[13] Omdia, Mainland China Cloud Infrastructure Market, Q1 2025

[14] Omdia, Mainland China Cloud Infrastructure Market, Q2 2025

[15] Omdia, Mainland China Cloud Infrastructure Market, Q4 2025

[16] Omdia, Global AI Cloud Stack Analysis 2026

Calculation notes

• Alibaba AI-related product revenue share: RMB12.376bn / RMB48.437bn = 25.5%.

• Alibaba AI Cloud and Computing Services adjusted EBITA margin: RMB5.628bn / RMB48.437bn = 11.6%; 2Q25 was RMB2.419bn / RMB33.418bn = 7.2%.

• 2025 AI cloud composition: RMB56.7bn total; approximately RMB39.2bn AI IaaS; approximately RMB17.5bn MaaS calculated as the difference.

• Mainland China cloud-infrastructure quarterly series: Omdia public releases report US$11.6bn, US$12.4bn, US$13.4bn and US$14.7bn in 1Q25-4Q25, with year-on-year growth of 16%, 21%, 24% and 26%.

Disclosure Appendix

Analyst certification

I, Tian Yuxin, hereby responsible for this report certifies that the views expressed accurately reflect my own analysis of the China AI cloud industry and the companies and platforms discussed. The report was prepared as an industry-research training project. No part of any compensation received for preparing this project, if any, was, is or will be directly or indirectly related to a specific recommendation, relative preference, price target or conclusion contained in this report.

The report relies on public information identified in the Sources and Methodology section. The authors have not used material non-public information and did not receive compensation from the companies discussed for producing this report. Relative preferences represent analytical comparisons within the stated research framework and are not recommendations to transact in securities.

Research status and intended audience

This document is an educational and industry-research training report prepared from public data. It is intended for readers capable of independently evaluating the assumptions, definitions and risks described. It is not represented as official research issued by a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser, credit-rating agency or other regulated financial institution, and it should not be relied upon as satisfying the research, suitability or disclosure requirements of any jurisdiction.

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