Given the increasing adoption of digital technology, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence intends to increase its investment in the Philippines after establishing a data center in the country.
Alibaba Group, a Chinese multinational technology giant, anticipates gaining a larger part of the cloud computing and storage services industry in the Philippines following the activation of its data center in Manila in October 2021.
E-commerce and financial transactions are already supported throughout the country by Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, the digital technology and intelligence core of the Alibaba Group. Lazada Philippines, GCash, Kumu, and ABS-CBN are a few of its clients.
Particularly for the development of its short video app, Kumu used Alibaba Cloud Live Streaming services. Aside from helping Binangonan Rural Bank build an e-Money digital app named “E-pon,” Alibaba Cloud also helps CIBI Information Inc., one of the top credit reporting agencies in the Philippines, automate its anti-fraud operations.
According to Allen Guo, country manager for the Philippines at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in a news briefing at Fairmont Hotel in Makati City, due to the rising demand for cloud-based digitalization from Philippine businesses, they have experienced rapid company growth.
Alibaba Cloud seeks to establish itself as a reliable partner and cloud service provider in the Philippines. They have built a local team and business presence in the Philippines and want to further develop and fortify their local digital ecosystem.
With the opening of a new data center in Manila, Alibaba Cloud increased its presence in Asia-Pacific, where it is now the market leader for infrastructure-as-a-service. According to market research company Gartner, it is also among the top three cloud service providers globally.
The data center enables local companies in the media, e-commerce, education, and financial technology industries to adapt and use cloud technologies. Utilizing digital assets that are housed in the virtual world, organizations can save money without developing or investing in their own computer storage networks thanks to cloud computing technologies.
Alibaba Cloud believes that there is still a significant potential demand from Filipino businesses and that cloud adoption is growing in the Philippines. They are therefore firmly committed to continuing to invest in infrastructure, services, and talent in order to support the Philippines.
Moreover, the services offered by Alibaba Cloud are also being expanded to include security, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, and internet of things services in addition to cloud computing, storage, and network services.
According to Guo, it now has more than 200 clients in the Philippines, both foreign and domestic businesses. By 2023, he claims, 10,000 people will have received certification, 50,000 talents will have been trained, and 5,000 businesses supported.
“We can see in the Philippine market that the cloud adoption and also the cloud services keep on growing. We see a big potential in the Philippine market,” said Guo.
During a global summit in Thailand in September, the company made a $1 billion investment commitment to strengthen its ecosystem capabilities, support its partners’ technological innovation, and support regional market expansion. This commitment is likely to have a positive impact on the Philippine market.
Furthermore, beginning with renovations to five of its hyper-scale data centers in China, Guo claims that by 2030, all of its environmentally friendly data centers in the region, including the one in the Philippines, will run solely on clean energy.
