Alibaba has announced plans for a new data center in the Philippines.
The company said it will launch its first data center in the country ‘by the end of the year,' but didn’t provide details about the facility beyond the fact it would provide Elastic Compute Service (ECS), database, global network solution, Content Delivery Network (CDN), and storage services.
“This investment is the latest in Alibaba Cloud’s growing commitment in the country, focusing on the banking, FinTech, retail, logistics, and education sectors, among others,” the company said in a statement.
The news was announced as part of ‘Project AsiaForward’a new initiative which will see Alibaba invest an initial $1 billion funding and empower developers and startups and foster talent in APAC.
In the same announcement, the company said it has also launched its third data center in Indonesia. First announced in July 2020, the new facility follows the opening of data centers in the country in 2018 and 2019.
“We are seeing a strong demand for cloud-native technologies in emerging verticals across the region, from e-commerce and logistics platforms to FinTech and online entertainment,” said Jeff Zhang, President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
“As the leading cloud service provider and trusted partner in APAC, we are committed to bettering the region’s cloud ecosystem and enhancing its digital infrastructure. Our focus on innovation and data center investments, as well as talent development is in anticipation of a digital-first future.”
This year has seen Alibaba’s cloud unit finally become profitable, but the company recently acknowledged that it had lost a large international cloud customer, widely rumored to be TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
