Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is expanding its AI-driven cloud infrastructure in Southeast Asia, underscoring its ambitions to become a global leader in artificial intelligence and cloud services. The company has launched its third data centre in Malaysia this week, while its second facility in the Philippines is scheduled to open in October, according to a corporate statement issued on Wednesday.
The Hangzhou-headquartered conglomerate also unveiled a new global competency centre in Singapore, aimed at accelerating AI adoption across a wide range of industries. The initiative is expected to benefit over 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers by facilitating access to Alibaba’s advanced AI models.
Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu reaffirmed the company’s commitment to global expansion through a pre-recorded video address at a corporate event in Singapore. “Globalisation is Alibaba Cloud’s long-term strategy,” Wu stated, outlining the firm’s vision to scale its cloud network across China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas over the next three years.
Alibaba has pledged to invest more than US$53 billion (approximately RM223.3 billion) in AI infrastructure during this period, signalling the depth of its strategic commitment. The expansion builds on previous infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea.
While traditionally recognised for its e-commerce dominance in China, Alibaba has shifted focus towards artificial intelligence, developing standalone solutions based on its proprietary Qwen AI models. In a significant strategic shift earlier this year, Wu described artificial general intelligence—AI with human-level cognitive capabilities—as the company’s “primary objective”, positioning Alibaba at the forefront of the global AI race amid the rise of competitors such as DeepSeek.
-Bloomberg
