Alibaba expands AI cloud services in Malaysia, Philippines

The company will accelerate the buildout of its global cloud network in China, Japan, South Korea, South-east Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Americas over the next three years, the CEO says

Published Wed, Jul 2, 2025 · 11:25 AM

Alibaba Group Holding is adding new data centres in Malaysia and the Philippines in pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven growth.

The Hangzhou-based company’s cloud unit launched its third data centre in Malaysia this week and it also plans to open its second data centre in the Philippines in October, it said in a statement released on Wednesday (Jul 2).

Alibaba Cloud also said it’s launching a global competency centre in Singapore to help accelerate AI adoption across industries. It said the centre would help more than 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers access advanced AI models.

“Globalisation is Alibaba Cloud’s long-term strategy,” Alibaba chief executive officer Eddie Wu said in a recorded video message at a company event in Singapore on Wednesday.

Alibaba will accelerate the buildout of its global cloud network in China, Japan, South Korea, South-east Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Americas over the next three years, he added, reiterating its commitment to spend more than US$53 billion on AI infrastructure during the period.

Best known for its e-commerce operations in China, Alibaba has been charging into AI, building standalone offerings around its Qwen AI models and growing its cloud services. It has also announced infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico and South Korea.

In the wake of DeepSeek’s emergence on the global stage, Alibaba chief executive officer Eddie Wu declared in February the company’s “primary objective” is now artificial general intelligence, a goal in the industry to build AI systems with human-level intellectual capabilities. BLOOMBERG

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