Alibaba to build first data center in the Philippines by the end of 2021
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology backbone of Alibaba Group, unveils its plan to build its first data center in the Philippines by the end of this year to further expand its footprint in Asia.
The cloud computing firm said that the planned data center will enable local business across sectors to adopt and implement cloud technologies more efficiently and extend the reach of Alibaba Cloud’s offerings in the Philippines, which ranges from elastic computing, database, security, and network services to machine learning and data analytics capabilities.
“Cloud computing has become central to the digitalization of businesses in the Philippines and around Asia. With our first data center in the country, we will be able to better support Philippine enterprises in adopting cloud technologies and preparing for a digital-first future,” said Leo Liu, General Manager for Hong Kong, Macau, and the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
The move comes after Alibaba’s announcement last year about the formation of the Philippines Ecosystem Alliance, which intends to fast-track the digitalization of local businesses by aiming to train 50,000 local IT professionals and help 5,000 businesses migrate online by 2023.
“Alibaba Cloud’s upcoming data center launch underscores our commitment to equipping Philippine customers with secure, reliable, and scalable cloud solutions. It is important for local enterprises to have access to reliable cloud architecture to efficiently meet the evolving needs of Filipino consumers,” said Allen Guo, Country Manager for the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
The announcement of the first data center in the country is also a part of Alibaba Cloud’s $1-billion investment in Project AsiaForward, an initiative that seeks to empower 100,000 developers and ensure the growth of 100,000 technology startups in Asia-Pacific over the next three years.
To be constructed in Manila, the development will make the Philippines the fourth country in Southeast Asia where Alibaba Cloud has built data centers next to Singapore (2015), Malaysia (2017), and Indonesia (2018). The planned data center is expected to bring the company’s total availability zones to 76 spread across 25 regions worldwide.
Alibaba Cloud has been ranked as the leading public cloud service provider in APAC and third globally, according to Gartner. The Alibaba Group subsidiary made its way to the Philippine market back in 2019 and has been providing the Alibaba ecosystem to local businesses.
Source: Alibaba Cloud Community
