Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is to seek US$21 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) in the US.

The IPO could value the company at $163 billion, ranking it among the 20 largest publicly traded companies in the US.

The company founded by Jack Ma achieved a gross merchandise volume of $296 billion in the 12 months to June 30 and accounted for around 80 per cent of online retail sales in China.

Alibaba has hired underwriters including CitiGroup, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse to lead its IPO.