Alibaba and Tencent Lose $75B as Nvidia Crisis Sends Chinese AI Stocks Down Nearly 20%

Key takeaways

• Alibaba and Tencent shed $75 billion in market value
• Nvidia leadership crisis raises Chinese AI chip access fears
• Domestic semiconductor stocks rally as AI developers tumble

Alibaba and Tencent have lost approximately $75 billion in combined market value this week as Nvidia's leadership crisis intensified fears that Washington could impose tougher restrictions on Chinese companies accessing advanced artificial intelligence chips.

Alibaba shares declined around 14% over the week, while Tencent lost approximately 8%, according to Financial Times reporting on November 13. The selling extended to smaller AI developers, with Hong Kong-listed Z.ai losing nearly 20% across two sessions and MiniMax falling approximately 15%.

Alibaba and Tencent Stocks Fall as Nvidia China Risks Escalate

The latest selloff followed Jensen Huang's resignation as Nvidia CEO on November 12, with longtime CFO Colette Kress taking over as interim chief executive.

Huang had advocated maintaining access to Chinese customers, arguing that continued American chip sales would help preserve US technological influence.

His departure has raised concerns that Washington could accelerate restrictions on advanced processors, particularly those accessed through overseas cloud computing facilities.

The pressure follows an earlier Oracle-Tencent AI computing dispute, involving a reported $7 billion agreement for access to approximately 100,000 processors.

Alibaba faces similar exposure through its relationships with overseas data-center operators using Nvidia hardware.

Before the latest turmoil, Nvidia reportedly instructed international cloud partners to reduce their dependence on Chinese customers.

The current decline therefore reflects an existing supply-chain vulnerability rather than a newly confirmed ban on all Nvidia-powered computing services.

Nvidia's CEO Exit Could Accelerate US Chip Restrictions

The selloff coincides with increasing political scrutiny of Nvidia's relationships with companies operating AI infrastructure outside China.

Earlier Nvidia board investigations centered on allegations involving Singapore-based Megaspeed International and potential access to restricted American processors.

Those allegations remain distinct from any established finding that Nvidia intentionally violated export-control rules.

The US Commerce Department is reportedly considering additional restrictions on Chinese companies renting advanced computing capacity through overseas data centers.

Such measures could affect facilities in Southeast Asia, where Chinese technology companies have sought access to Nvidia processors without directly importing restricted equipment.

China already faces complications involving hundreds of thousands of Nvidia H200 chips, illustrating how regulatory uncertainty can affect hardware availability.

However, the proposed restrictions have not been finalized, and their eventual scope remains uncertain.

Cambricon Stock Surges as Chinese Chipmakers Benefit

Not every Chinese semiconductor company is suffering from the Nvidia crisis.

Cambricon Technologies shares gained more than 20% this week as investors anticipated stronger demand for domestically developed AI processors.

The contrast highlights China's accelerating push toward semiconductor independence, particularly as Beijing encourages developers to adopt locally manufactured hardware.

Huawei and other domestic suppliers could benefit if American processors become harder to access, although competing with Nvidia's established software ecosystem remains challenging.

The latest developments follow an earlier Chinese AI stock collapse, which erased hundreds of billions in market capitalization.