China’s cloud spending hits $11.6B as AI push escalates chip tensions

Mainland China’s cloud market surged to $11.6 billion in Q1 2025, up 16 percent year-over-year, driven by AI demand. Alibaba Cloud led with 33 percent share, while Huawei and Tencent followed. Amid soaring GPU needs, Chinese firms face tightened U.S. export controls, pushing efforts to acquire banned Nvidia chips offshore. Huawei’s domestic chip push continues, but executives admit a generation gap remains compared to U.S. alternatives.