Alibaba Group said it will make an additional investment of $1 billion to support growth of Aliyun, its cloud computing business.
Aliyun will expand its international presence, support global cloud computing ecosystem, and develop new cloud and big data solutions.
Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, said: “This additional $1 billion investment is just the beginning; our hope is for Aliyun to continually empower customers and partners with new capabilities, and help companies upgrade their basic infrastructure.”
As part of international expansion, Aliyun earlier this year launched its first overseas data center in Silicon Valley. It currently provides public cloud computing services in five data centers in China and in Hong Kong.
Alibaba, using a part of the new investment, will set up a global network of Aliyun cloud computing centers in the Middle East, Singapore, Japan and Europe.
Its partners – Intel, Singtel, Dubai-based Meraas, Equinix, PCCW, LINKBYNET, and Hong Kong-based Towngas – cover North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Aliyun and Yonyou Software, a software vendor in China, will help businesses in the fields of cloud computing, big data, digital marketing and e-commerce. Aliyun will also assist Yonyou on its journey to the cloud and big data.
