Alibaba Group released its first-quarter financial report for fiscal 2027. During an analyst call, Group CEO Wu Yongming said the return on investment for AI computing-capacity capital expenditure is highly certain and that the spending can be recovered within three years. Alibaba announced a three-year 380 billion investment plan in February last year and had invested 190 billion by the end of the June quarter, in line with expectations. Wu said spending may fluctuate between quarters because hardware deliveries occur in cycles and chip-component prices have increased. As gross margins for AI-related products continue to improve, the payback period could fall to 2.5 years or even two years.