Alibaba's shares opened 10% higher in Hong Kong on Friday to reach their highest level in more than three years, after it reported third-quarter revenues just above analysts' estimates and said it plans to invest more in e-commerce and AI.

Chief executive Eddie Wu said AI was "the kind of opportunity for industry transformation that only comes around only once every few decades."

Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday matched Wall Street expectations for third-quarter revenue, on strong year-end sales, highlighting the success of its strategy to attract cost-conscious consumers. The company's revenue was 280.

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in over a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalizes on the artificial intelligence boom in China.

Alibaba has been making 'significant strides' in advancing its AI cloud business after launching its Qwen 2.5-Max flagship AI foundation model, Barclays wrote in a note.