Alibaba announced its decision to invest $1 billion into Aliyun, its cloud computing unit as part of its globalization strategy.
The Chinese e-commerce giant plans to use the additional funding to expand the presence of its cloud computing unit internationally and support an alliance-based global computing ecosystem.
Alibaba Group to build new cloud computing centers
It will also develop a new cloud and big data solutions to increase customers’ productivity, lower costs, and scale quickly as their business grow. Currently, Aliyun has data centers in China, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley.
Alibaba Group said it would build a new network of Aliyun cloud computing centers in Europe, Japan, Middle East, and Singapore.
In a statement, Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said, “Aliyun has become a world-class cloud computing service platform that is the market leader in China, bearing the fruits of our investment over the past six years. As the physical and digital are becoming increasingly integrated, Aliyun will serve as an essential engine in this new economy.”
Zhang also said Aliyun will continue to empower customers and partners with new capabilities and help companies upgrade their infrastructures.
Furthermore, Zhang emphasized that Alibaba Group wants to enable businesses connect directly with consumers and use data to drive productivity. Its ultimate goal is to help businesses switch to data technology.
Aliyun partners with Yonyou Software
Alibaba Group also announced that Aliyun signed a strategic partnership agreement with Yonyou Software, the largest software vendor in China and the largest independent, enterprise software vendor in the Asia-Pacific region.
The partnership will help Aliyun to tap the enterprise market further and to deliver a more comprehensive set of services to businesses. It will allow Yonyou to leverage on the extensive resources of Alibaba Group to grow its software business worldwide.
Aliyun President Simon Hu said, “Cloud computing will become a fundamental infrastructure for new economic development. Aliyun, together with Yonyou, will bring comprehensive cloud computing solutions to empower more enterprises, drive the development of supply chains, enable cloud consumer marketing, and bring disruptive transformation to the industry.”
