AI and Agents Propel Market Growth
Mainland China’s cloud infrastructure services spending increased by 26% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching USD 14.7 billion, according to Omdia’s recent research. This marks the third consecutive quarter of growth exceeding 20%, highlighting the sector’s robust expansion.n
Artificial intelligence (AI) continued to drive market growth, extending beyond model-related demand to boost cloud infrastructure consumption and enterprise deployment capabilities. Meanwhile, attention is shifting toward agents that align with real-world business processes, enhancing operational capabilities and product readiness.n
Rachel Brindley, Senior Research Director at Omdia, stated, “As enterprises embed AI across a wider range of real-world business scenarios, deployment models, data environments, and operational frameworks are becoming increasingly complex.”n
Shift Towards Agent-Based Productsn
OpenClaw’s emergence in China has heightened interest in shifting from AI models to agents more closely aligned with business processes. This evolution is characterised by the integration of conversational interfaces, workflows, and enterprise systems. Agents demonstrate the potential to connect workflows, tools, and external systems.n
Yi Zhang, Senior Analyst at Omdia, commented, “The focus of market competition is beginning to shift, moving beyond models and platform capabilities alone toward the deliverability and operational maturity of agent products.”n
Alibaba Cloud maintained a leading 37% market share in Q4 2025, with Huawei Cloud and Tencent Cloud holding 17% and 10% respectively. Alibaba’s launch of new AI products and expansion of its data centre capabilities contributed to its market dominance.n
Looking ahead, Omdia forecasts China’s cloud infrastructure services spending will continue to grow by 26% in 2026, driven by ongoing AI adoption and the expansion of agent-based solutions. The broader rollout of enterprise AI, expansion of private AI deployments, and increased demand for traditional cloud resources like compute, storage, and databases are also expected to support this growth.n
As AI commercialization evolves beyond chatbot-style applications towards execution-oriented applications, agents play a crucial role. Collaboration across the broader ecosystem aims to integrate conversational interfaces and enterprise systems into the invocation and execution chain of agents, fostering a more interconnected business environment.
Last updated: 27 April 2026, 11:19 pm
