Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai said Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent meeting with entrepreneurs has given businesses the confidence to increase investments. Speaking at CNBC's CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore on Wednesday, Tsai called the meeting highly significant for the private sector, according to CNBC reporting.

"People don't realize how important that meeting was," he said. "What that meeting did to the entire entrepreneur sector, or the private business sector, is it gave private business people confidence to make investments in their business."

Xi held a closed-door symposium last month with prominent business leaders, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Beijing encouraged the entrepreneurs to "show their talents" and maintain their competitive spirit, in what appears to be a shift after years of restrictions on large technology companies.

Jack Ma's attendance at the Xi-led meeting carried strong symbolic weight. The Alibaba founder had largely avoided public appearances since Chinese authorities canceled Ant Group's IPO in late 2020 following his criticism of the country's regulatory system.

The summit suggested a more supportive approach from Beijing toward companies it's counting on to help its economy, which has been affected by slow domestic demand. Tsai noted that Chinese consumers have strong household finances but are "standing on the sidelines waiting to spend."

"What's going to get them to spend: confidence and sentiment," Tsai explained. "The combination of private business and the excitement about technology development will eventually translate into consumer confidence."

Alibaba has responded with ambitious plans, including:

• A $52 billion investment in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over three years
• Development of its Qwen AI system, which the company says performs well in benchmark tests
• The recent unveiling of QwQ-32B, a new AI reasoning model

"The Xi meeting gave us the confidence to put our earnings back into CAPEX and investments, also hire people," Tsai concluded.

The Xi meeting comes amid broader trade tensions affecting multinational retailers. Chinese authorities recently summoned Walmart executives after the American company reportedly asked suppliers to lower prices in response to Trump's tariffs. State media outlet Yuyuantantian emphasized that "Chinese companies shall not bear the blame for US tariffs," highlighting the complex environment foreign businesses face in China.