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Alibaba Cloud Expands AI Footprint in Southeast Asia

Alibaba Cloud has launched its third data center in Malaysia and announced plans for a second facility in the Philippines as part of its strategic expansion across Southeast Asia. This infrastructure growth supports the company's broader $53 billion investment in cloud computing and AI capabilities over the next three years. The expansion aims to meet increasing regional demand for AI services while positioning Alibaba Cloud to compete more effectively against Western tech giants like AWS, Microsoft, and Google in the rapidly growing Southeast Asian market.
Alibaba Cloud Expands AI Footprint in Southeast Asia

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, is significantly expanding its presence in Southeast Asia with new data centers designed to support the region's growing AI ecosystem.

On July 1, 2025, the company launched its third data center in Malaysia, with plans to open a second facility in the Philippines this October. These new installations build upon earlier infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea announced in the first half of 2025, creating a more comprehensive regional network.

The expansion is part of Alibaba's ambitious $53 billion investment in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years. This investment, which exceeds the company's total cloud and AI spending over the past decade, underscores CEO Eddie Wu's vision of AI as a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity and cloud computing as the primary engine for future revenue growth.

Alibaba Cloud has also established its first AI Global Competency Center (AIGCC) in Singapore, aiming to accelerate AI adoption across enterprises of all sizes. The center will support over 5,000 businesses and provide skills and access to Alibaba's Qwen AI models for more than 100,000 developers.

The company is enhancing its offerings with upgraded Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) products. Its 9th Generation Intel-based Enterprise Elastic Compute Service instance, which delivers 20% greater computing efficiency compared to previous iterations, will be available across additional global markets starting this July.

While Alibaba Cloud dominates the Chinese market, it faces stiff competition in Southeast Asia from Western tech giants. According to Synergy Research Group, Alibaba Cloud held approximately 4% of the global public cloud market in Q4 2024, trailing behind Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. However, Southeast Asia represents a strategic battleground where Alibaba sees significant growth potential as the region's digital economy continues to expand.

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