PHOTO
(Corrects title of Alibaba Cloud executive Yu Sicheng)
BEIJING, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Alibaba Cloud plans to open four new data facilities outside China, the cloud unit of Alibaba Holdings Ltd
BABA.N
said on Monday, as it seeks to grab global market share from leading players Amazon.com Inc
AMZN.O
and Microsoft
MSFT.O
.
The data facilities in Dubai, Germany, Japan and Australia will extend the reach of China's leading cloud computing service provider to every major continent, and marks the latest step in the unit's $1 billion infrastructure investment drive.
Also known as Aliyun, the unit has flourished domestically thanks to Beijing's strategic emphasis on building homegrown cloud technology, while foreign firms have grappled with stringent licensing restrictions in the country.
However, it accounts for a much smaller slice of the global market for cloud computing, defined as the storage of data on remote networks rather than local servers, which is expected to reach $135 billion by 2020, according to research firm Canalys.
Alibaba Cloud is forecast to take 7.8 percent of that market, while leading players Amazon.com Inc
AMZN.O
, Microsoft
MSFT.O
, International Business Machines Corp
IBM.N
and Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O
are expected to account for 69.1 percent.
Yu Sicheng, general manager of Alibaba Cloud's international business, said the unit's strength in China was a significant advantage and a lynchpin in the company's globalisation plans.
"We have the U.S., Europe plus China, which is quite difficult," he told Reuters in an interview.
The new additions bring Alibaba Cloud's total number of oreign cloud facilities to eight, surpassing the six within China, though the majority of the company's data volume remains squarely within China.
It will launch the data facilities through partnerships with Vodafone
VOD.L
in Europe, Softbank Group Corp
9984.T
in Japan and YVOLV in Dubai, a joint venture between Alibaba Cloud and Meraas Holdings LLC.
Yu, however, declined to comment on when the unit will likely post a profit, even as it has seen six quarters of consecutive triple-digit growth, to become Alibaba's fastest growing business sector.
"Our focus is to keep expanding our market leadership and presence and this is our priority for now," he said.
(Reporting by Catherine Cadell; Editing by Stephen Coates) ((Catherine.Cadell@thomsonreuters.com; +861066271236;))
BEIJING, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Alibaba Cloud plans to open four new data facilities outside China, the cloud unit of Alibaba Holdings Ltd
The data facilities in Dubai, Germany, Japan and Australia will extend the reach of China's leading cloud computing service provider to every major continent, and marks the latest step in the unit's $1 billion infrastructure investment drive.
Also known as Aliyun, the unit has flourished domestically thanks to Beijing's strategic emphasis on building homegrown cloud technology, while foreign firms have grappled with stringent licensing restrictions in the country.
However, it accounts for a much smaller slice of the global market for cloud computing, defined as the storage of data on remote networks rather than local servers, which is expected to reach $135 billion by 2020, according to research firm Canalys.
Alibaba Cloud is forecast to take 7.8 percent of that market, while leading players Amazon.com Inc
Yu Sicheng, general manager of Alibaba Cloud's international business, said the unit's strength in China was a significant advantage and a lynchpin in the company's globalisation plans.
"We have the U.S., Europe plus China, which is quite difficult," he told Reuters in an interview.
The new additions bring Alibaba Cloud's total number of oreign cloud facilities to eight, surpassing the six within China, though the majority of the company's data volume remains squarely within China.
It will launch the data facilities through partnerships with Vodafone
Yu, however, declined to comment on when the unit will likely post a profit, even as it has seen six quarters of consecutive triple-digit growth, to become Alibaba's fastest growing business sector.
"Our focus is to keep expanding our market leadership and presence and this is our priority for now," he said.
(Reporting by Catherine Cadell; Editing by Stephen Coates) ((Catherine.Cadell@thomsonreuters.com; +861066271236;))