Alibaba Cloud Slashes Prices as Previous Cuts Underwhelm, Executive Says

China’s public cloud market is in the early stages of another price war. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s cloud unit kicked off the offensive on Thursday with its second bout of steep discounting within a year.

Alibaba Cloud has slashed the prices of more than 100 products by up to 55% as growth in the sector, and the company’s market share, has diminished.

The previous price reductions “failed to meet expectations,” said Liu Weiguang, president of public cloud business at Alibaba Cloud, in an interview with Caixin. But he is optimistic about future prospects for Alibaba’s public cloud as the lack of uptake in traditional sectors and the artificial intelligence frenzy present rich demand pools.