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By Donny Kwok and Josh Ye
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Investors wiped out some $20 billion off Alibaba Group's market value on Friday after it scrapped plans to spin off its cloud business, citing uncertainties over U.S. curbs on exports to China of chips used in artificial intelligence applications.
Alibaba Group's Hong Kong shares closed down 10%, their biggest single-day drop in more than a year.
It was the first market reaction in Asia since the stunning strategy reversal was announced late on Thursday, after which the company's U.S. listed securities closed down 9%.
"The shelving is a surprise and makes us wonder if there are issues behind the scenes that we aren't aware of," said Jon Withaar, the Singapore-based head of Asia special situations at Pictet Asset Management.
Alibaba's concerns over the U.S. export curbs announced by Washington in October come on the heels of similar worries raised this week by Chinese social media and gaming company Tencent Holdings which said the restrictions would force it to seek domestically produced alternatives.
Alibaba, once Asia's most valuable stock, was worth around $830 billion at its peak in October 2020 but is now valued at less than a quarter of that amount, as the e-commerce company took centre-stage in Beijing's technology sector crackdown and as the Chinese economy slowed.
Asked if there were any other reasons behind shelving the IPO, Alibaba referred Reuters to remarks chairman Joseph Tsai made during an earnings call on Thursday on how the company planned to invest in its cloud business.
The latest Alibaba news underscores broader hurdles facing China's tech companies, with the export curbs making it harder for them to get crucial chip supplies from U.S. companies.
In March, Alibaba announced plans to carve out the cloud business as part of a restructuring, the biggest in its 24-year history, that broke the company up into six units.
Analysts had estimated then the cloud division could beworth $41-$60 billion but had warned that its listingcould attract scrutiny from both Chinese and overseas regulatorsdue to the reams of data it manages.
The Hangzhou-based company, in announcing its quarterly earnings on Thursday, also put on hold a listing plan for its Freshippo groceries business.
Analysts also said that news that the family trust of Alibaba co-founder and former chief Jack Ma planned to sell 10 million American Depository Shares in Alibaba was likely impacting shares.
"Despite no longer being involved in operations, we believe (Ma's) selling Alibaba at a depressed valuation may hurt sentiment," UBS analyst Kenneth Fong said in a note.