Alibaba shares fell sharply in Hong Kong on Thursday, 12 November 2026, as investors worried that Washington is preparing tighter controls on Chinese companies' access to advanced artificial intelligence chips.

The stock dropped as much as 7.3% during the session before closing 6.8% lower at HK$93.80, according to Dow Jones Newswires, reported by Morningstar on 12 November 2026. The fall outpaced the Hang Seng Tech index, which declined 2.4% on the day. Earlier in trading, the shares had been down 5% at HK$95.60, according to Investing.com.

Remote access rules under preparation

The selling followed a report by The Information that the US Commerce Department is preparing rules to prevent Chinese artificial intelligence companies from remotely accessing advanced chips through data centres located overseas. The proposed measure could be announced this month, according to the report, cited by Investing.com.

The restrictions would aim to stop Chinese firms from using advanced processors remotely, rather than by shipping the chips directly into China, and to curb the smuggling of restricted chips. The report said the measure would expand existing semiconductor export controls to seven additional countries, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Tencent shares also fell on the news, slipping 1.5% to HK$403.60 in Hong Kong, according to Investing.com.

Nvidia turmoil adds to the pressure

The chip-access fears were amplified by turmoil at Nvidia, the world's leading supplier of AI processors. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's board is preparing to remove chief executive Jensen Huang following an affair with Alice Huang, an executive at data company Megaspeed who is suspected of spying for China. Dow Jones Newswires reported the Journal's account on 12 November 2026.

Alibaba was a key client of Singapore-based Megaspeed, which placed many of the Nvidia servers it acquired in Malaysian data centres and supplied computing power to Alibaba, the Journal reported. US lawmakers are now demanding tighter chip-export restrictions in the wake of the controversy, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Advanced Nvidia chips have been critical to Chinese AI developers racing to build frontier models that can compete with Western rivals, and any tightening of access would raise costs and slow development for cloud providers such as Alibaba.

Other Chinese AI stocks fall

The sell-off spread beyond Alibaba. MiniMax closed 7.8% lower in Hong Kong, while Z.AI dropped 9.05%, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Alibaba is also preparing a Hong Kong listing for its chip subsidiary, T-Head, although regulatory approvals remain pending, according to market reports on 12 November 2026. The company is due to report quarterly earnings on 19 November, when investors will look for an update on its cloud business and on how it plans to secure computing capacity if US rules tighten.

For now, the market's message is clear: the combination of a possible new round of US chip curbs and the leadership crisis at Nvidia has put Chinese technology stocks firmly on the defensive. Share prices can rise and fall, and Thursday's move shows how quickly policy risk can outweigh company fundamentals in this sector.