Chinese internet giants set to reap artificial intelligence profits in 2 to 3 years: UBS

Despite short term macro headwinds, vast user bases and costs are positioning Chinese firms for gains

Internet platforms with vast data and large user bases will capture a larger share of artificial intelligence profits in two to three years, even though macro headwinds have temporarily fuelled investor caution over aggressive AI spending by Chinese tech giants, UBS analysts said.

Investors have been cautious over a weak macro environment in the second half of the year, and greater AI spending for hardware and infrastructure would drag down short-term profits, but the industry’s power balance was set to flip soon, according to Kenneth Fong, head of China internet research at UBS.

“This is all about the cycle. Now the capacity constraint is on the upstream... so [they] capture a big chunk of the whole profit pool,” Fong said in an interview on Tuesday on the sidelines of a UBS event in Shenzhen.

“But two to three years down the road after the capacity constraint eases, the pricing power will shift to the downstream, where they have the distribution capability, data and users,” Fong noted. “The internet company will start to work again.”

To strengthen their AI war chest, Chinese tech giants have been ramping up their capital expenditures in the past quarter, at the expense of their free cash flows.