Alibaba Hong Kong Listed Share Up 9% On New Chip Launch And Jack Ma Re-appearance In Public

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are getting a boost from the launch of a chip designed to power the e-commerce giant's growing cloud-computing business amid a larger drive in China for technological self-reliance.

Shares of Alibaba were recently 7.1% higher at HK$176.50 on Wednesday, paring year-to-date losses to 24%.

Alibaba on Tuesday unveiled its Yitian 710 chip, which won't be sold commercially but instead power servers recently launched by the company's cloud-computing unit, which competes with the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

 Currently, Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares rallied as much as 9% just an hour before the market closed following reports that its founder Jack Ma traveled to Europe and after the release of a new chip.

The stock pared some of those gains and was just under 7% higher in early trade.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong-based publication East Week reported that Ma had traveled to Spain over the weekend with his billionaire friends and business partners for a sailing vacation. The report cited a source that could not be named due to confidentiality considerations.

The moves are just part of a broader recovery / reverse correction, where Alibaba shares are now 30% off their lows just earlier this month, but still 35% below their February highs.