New Delhi — Alibaba Group Holding reported a sharp decline in profit as the Chinese e-commerce giant increased spending on artificial intelligence and computing infrastructure while its core online retail business faced weaker consumer demand. The company reported a 9% increase in revenue, broadly in line with market expectations, supported in part by strong demand for computing capacity from its cloud business. Alibaba has become one of China’s leading AI companies, with its Qwen family of models attracting international attention. The company has committed tens of billions of dollars to AI infrastructure, including chips, data centers and the development of AI agents, as it seeks to compete with major U. The expansion of Alibaba’s AI operations is putting pressure on margins at a time when consumer spending in China remains subdued.