Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. pledged to invest more than 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) on AI infrastructure such as data centers over the next three years, a major commitment that underscores the e-commerce pioneer’s ambitions of becoming a leader in artificial intelligence.

Alibaba, co-founded by Jack Ma plans to spend more on its AI and cloud computing network than it has over the past decade.

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

Alibaba said on Monday it plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan ($52.44 billion) in its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure over the next three years.

Alibaba plans to "invest at least 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over the next three years to advance its cloud computing and AI infrastructure", a company statement said. Investo