Alibaba Cloud has explained how customers such as Canon, Refinitiv and The Trade Desk are able to improve business.
Alibaba Cloud assists clients to use technologies such as data analytics, networking and artificial intelligence to develop innovative solutions.
Alibaba is currently leading the cloud computing market in China, commanding 47 percent of the market for cloud infrastructure services during the first quarter of 2019, according to research firm Canalys.
The Trade Desk, an objective ad-buying platform, will use Alibaba Cloud to meet the needs for high volume, high concurrency and low latency services across the region.
“Trade Desk helps leading brands optimize their advertising campaigns in China. Alibaba Cloud helps us meet the specific needs of advertisers accessing the China market, and going forward, the growing number of Chinese companies looking to access new markets,” said Calvin Chan, general manager of the Trade Desk China.
Canon, imaging solution provider, is establishing a digital operation model from front-end e-commerce platform to back-end data analysis in order to improve user experience through technology.
“Together with Alibaba Cloud, we have redefined the concept of printing, online-offline integration, and digital marketing in order to provide the next level of experience and value to customers in China. We will work even closer with Alibaba Cloud on big data and precision marketing to create more value for our customers in China,” Ehara Taisei, vice president of Canon China, said.
Refinitiv, a financial markets data and infrastructure providers, is working with Alibaba Cloud to bring its financial solutions to financial institutions globally.
“In partnership with Alibaba Cloud, Refinitiv is exploring how to bring our products and content to customers globally, and new market solutions to get users prepared for emerging opportunities,” said Nicole Chen, managing director of Refinitiv Greater China.
Alibaba Cloud also runs the China Gateway Program which helped global customers from countries including Australia, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Israel, Sweden, France, Germany, and the United States to get up and running in China.
“With Alibaba Cloud’s powerful technologies, business-oriented industry solutions and in-depth knowledge of the market, we would like to support more customers to innovate in China and transfer their successes to other parts of the world,” Selina Yuan, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence International said.
Alibaba Cloud AI chip
Alibaba Group has developed a new chip that specializes in machine-learning tasks and which will be used to enhance services for its cloud computing division.
The company’s first self-developed AI chip, called Hanguang 800, is being used within Alibaba to power product search, automatic translation, and personalized recommendations on the e-commerce giant’s web sites.
“The launch of Hanguang 800 is an important step in our pursuit of next-generation technologies, boosting computing capabilities that will drive both our current and emerging businesses while improving energy-efficiency,” Alibaba CTO Jeff Zhang said in a statement.
Alibaba has no immediate plans to sell the chip as a standalone commercial product, a company spokeswoman said.
Technology giants such as Alphabet and Facebook are developing their own custom chips, aiming to improve the performance of specialized AI tasks at company-operated data centers.
The chip was developed by DAMO Academy, a research institute Alibaba launched in late 2017, and T-Head, the company’s specialized semiconductor division.
Alibaba’s foray into the chip sector comes amid efforts by Beijing to promote China’s semiconductor industry and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign imports of core technologies.
Alibaba also released its first core processor IP in July based on RISC-V open-source chip architecture. RISC-V gives firms a potential alternative to the dominant architecture of Britain’s Arm Holdings. Arm, a unit of Japan’s SoftBank Group, charges licensing fees for its use.
