Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, announced plans to build its first data center in the Philippines by the end of this year as part of its $1 billion expansion in Southeast Asia over the next three years to further support the digital transformation in the region.
The Alibaba Cloud’s new data center will be constructed in Manila and bring the company’s total availability zones to 76 spread across 25 regions worldwide, the company said in a statement.
The new data center will extend the reach of Alibaba Cloud’s offerings in the Philippines, ranging from elastic compute, database, security and network services to machine learning and data analytics capabilities. Local businesses across sectors such as financial technology (FinTech), e-commerce, education and media will be able to adopt and implement cloud technologies more efficiently and better position themselves to capture the emerging opportunities in the country.
“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. We look forward to building out the cloud ecosystem in the Philippines and contributing to the digital economy in Asia, leveraging the synergy with other hubs in the region,” said Leo Liu, General Manager for Hong Kong, Macau, and Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
“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. We are glad to be in a position to provide local enterprises with the tools they need to succeed,” said Allen Guo, Country Manager for the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.D
During the press conference, Guo explained that besides its local cloud infrastructure investment, “We will keep continuing to invest in the Philippines. By expanding our local cloud infrastructure, increasing our local hiring.”
Not only infrastructure, he said, but also expanding its digital talents and also programs in the country. Alibaba Cloud has already released a series of training programs, including the Alibaba cloud Academy, Alibaba cloud Partners Program, and Alibaba Cloud certificate programs.
Guo also announced that they aim to train 50,035 and at least 10,000 IT professionals by the 2023 in the Philippines.
To adequately support Philippine businesses’ digitalization, be them conglomerates or one of the country’s vast number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Alibaba cloud has formed partnerships with more than 20 organizations across the retail, healthcare, FinTech, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), business process outsourcing, media and education sectors.
Last year, Alibaba Cloud announced the formation of the Philippines Ecosystem Alliance to fast-track the digitalization of local businesses and support the government's Cloud First Policy. The company also aims to train 50,000 local IT professionals and help 5,000 businesses migrate online by 2023.
To encourage the adoption of cloud technologies among local enterprises, Alibaba Cloud established a local team in the Philippines and trained them to address the specific needs of clients and deliver a personalized customer service experience.
Alibaba Cloud has been ranked as the leading public cloud service provider in APAC and third globally, according to Gartner. Since it entered the Philippine market in 2019, Alibaba Cloud has been working hard to provide the best of the Alibaba ecosystem to local businesses.