The technological race to gain market share and expand infrastructure focused on artificial intelligence is increasingly evident. Alibaba Cloud, the technology arm of the Chinese Alibaba Group, announced it will expand its presence and infrastructure in the Middle East by opening new data centers and offering services, highlighting this global competition between companies and regions seeking to attract investment in the sector.
Alibaba Cloud invests in data centers in the Middle East to strengthen its global presence
The company already has a presence in several countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Mexico, as well as some areas in Dubai since 2016. The news is that Alibaba Cloud will now expand its operations in the Middle East region with the aim of increasing capacity and offering services to customers in the region, which comes as a response to the growing demand from local companies for artificial intelligence and cloud storage solutions.
“Our strategic expansion of global infrastructure is designed to cater for the accelerating demand from forward-thinking customers. Alibaba Cloud stands at the forefront of the AI innovation, co-evolving with our customers with full-stack AI and cloud solutions that support businesses anytime and anywhere,” said Dr. Feifei Li, president of International business and SVP of Alibaba Cloud.
New data centers promise to accelerate digitalization in different sectors
In practice, this move means that organizations across various sectors, such as energy, healthcare, sports, and others, will have faster and more secure access to the company’s capabilities. The decision clearly aims to make the Chinese cloud increasingly competitive against other established and significant companies in the market, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
From the Middle East’s perspective, this move brings many benefits for development. With the installation of new data centers also comes the opportunity to accelerate the digitalization of governments and companies.
Expansion targets growing demand for artificial intelligence and digital innovation
A few years ago, cloud computing was largely restricted to technology-related fields. But over the years, and with the proliferation of applications involving the tool, its applicability has become much less restricted, encompassing other sectors such as public health and sports. Alibaba Cloud has been capitalizing on this trend by offering not only infrastructure but also comprehensive artificial intelligence solutions.
In practice, the company supports companies in developing their intelligent processes and tools, chatbots, data analysis systems, and even medical applications. A recent example is the partnership with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which uses Alibaba’s language models to accelerate adverse drug event screening. Another example comes from sports, where the company organized innovation challenges with universities and startups to foster data-driven solutions.
When we talk specifically about the Middle East, the potential is enormous. Countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been increasingly investing in building the concept of “smart cities,” that is, the digitalization of public services and startup ecosystems. The main goal is for new data centers to help ensure greater stability and reduce dependence on external infrastructure.
Global cloud market competition reaches a new level
Alibaba Cloud’s move is part of a global race involving billion-dollar investments. This year, the company announced that it plans to invest more than $50 billion in expanding the sector, a significant figure that demonstrates the level of financial investment this competition is generating.
The announcement of this significant expansion of Alibaba Cloud is further evidence of the strong movement in the global technology market, which now encompasses the digital sector, business, and geopolitics. For countries in this region, a strong impact is expected, accelerating digitalization and encouraging investment. From Alibaba’s perspective, it is a way to secure its place in the Middle East in an increasingly competitive market.