As AI large models experience a surge in popularity, the AI cloud sector has also seen a significant uptick. After all, due to the exorbitant costs involved, numerous small and medium-sized enterprises prefer to lease services from cloud computing providers rather than constructing their own AI data centers.

Based on institutional data, China's AI cloud market hit RMB 22.3 billion in the first half of 2025, marking a year-on-year doubling. The entire year of 2025 is anticipated to witness a growth rate of 148%. By 2030, the Chinese AI cloud market is projected to expand to RMB 193 billion, more than quadrupling its current size.

In terms of overall market share, Alibaba reigns supreme with a 35.8% stake, implying that one in every three AI cloud purchasers opts for Alibaba's AI cloud.

Volcano Engine (a subsidiary of ByteDance) secures the second spot with a 14.8% share, trailed by Huawei Cloud at 13.1%, Tencent Cloud at 7%, and Baidu Cloud at 6.1%.

Overall, Alibaba's market share surpasses the combined shares of the companies ranked second, third, and fourth, underscoring its substantial lead.

Indeed, the market share of AI cloud to a certain extent mirrors the current capabilities of domestic AI large models, as these companies also boast their own AI models.

For example, Alibaba has Tongyi Qianwen, ByteDance has Doubao, Tencent has Hunyuan, Baidu has ERNIE Bot, and Huawei has the Pangu large model, all of which are highly ranked.

AI cloud is not a single cloud server product; it stands apart from ordinary cloud services. According to institutional definitions, AI cloud integrates full-stack artificial intelligence capabilities in the form of cloud services, covering three major tiers: IaaS, PaaS, and MaaS, which are subsequently delivered to enterprises.

Thus, AI cloud essentially offers a complete suite of AI capabilities, providing enterprises with readily available AI interfaces. This substantially lowers the barrier to AI adoption, sparing some companies the need to train models from the ground up.

Looking to the future, AI large models will continue to permeate various business sectors, prompting an increasing number of enterprises to embrace AI. The AI cloud market is indeed poised for growth, but competition will also heat up. It remains to be seen who will ultimately come out on top.