During its global summit, Alibaba Cloud also launched its first AI Global Competency Center (AIGCC) in Singapore
In sum, what to know:
AI center opens in Singapore – Alibaba Cloud launched its first AI Global Competency Center, aimed at supporting 5,000 businesses and training 100,000 developers annually with AI labs, models and industry-specific agents.
New data centers in Asia – The company opened its third Malaysian data center on July 1 and plans to open another in the Philippines in October, as part of broader expansion across Southeast Asia and South Korea.
Global growth amid chip curbs – With U.S. export controls tightening, Alibaba Cloud is investing $52.7B in global cloud infrastructure to reduce exposure and grow AI capacity.
Chinese company Alibaba Cloud unveiled its new infrastructure investments as well as a new AI competency center during the Alibaba Cloud Global Summit, recently held in Singapore.
To meet the growing demand for cloud and AI services across Southeast Asia, Alibaba Cloud said it launched its third data center in Malaysia on Tuesday of this week, while also announcing plans to open its second data center in the Philippines in October 2025.
During the event, Alibaba Cloud also launched its first AI Global Competency Center (AIGCC) in Singapore.
The new facility is designed to support over 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers, offering access to advanced AI models and powerful computing resources to accelerate experimentation and deployment, the company said. Developers and businesses will benefit from the AI Innovation Lab, which offers token credits, curated datasets and personalized support tailored to real-world scenarios and industry needs, it added.
Alibaba Cloud noted that the center will also introduce over 10 AI agents across key industries such as finance, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail and energy, demonstrating AI’s potential across different verticals.
Alibaba Cloud also said it will partner with more than 120 universities and institutions globally, with the goal of training 100,000 AI professionals annually.
The Chinese company has recently confirmed it was expecting to open a second data center in South Korea by the end of June.
Alibaba Cloud originally entered the South Korean market with the launch of its first data center in March 2022, after announcing the project in late 2021, according to local press reports.
Some of the clients of Alibaba Cloud in South Korea include AI company Univa and live-streaming platform Lala Station, which has been using Alibaba Cloud services since 2022.
In May, Alibaba Cloud confirmed it was moving ahead with its ambitious global expansion strategy, reaffirming plans to invest CNY380 billion ($52.7 billion) in building out its cloud infrastructure at a global scale.
Speaking at a corporate gathering, Alibaba Cloud’s CEO Eddie Wu emphasized the company’s goal of developing a “unified global cloud network”, enabling Chinese enterprises to access consistent AI infrastructure both domestically and internationally.
As previously reported by the South China Morning Post, the Chinese firm intends to accelerate growth in strategic markets including Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. The company currently operates 87 availability zones across 29 regions, with recent additions including a new region in Mexico and a second data center in Thailand.
These plans, first unveiled in February, have taken on renewed urgency following the escalation of tensions between the U.S. and China around access to AI hardware. The U.S. has restricted the export of advanced chips to China, prompting chipmakers like Nvidia to release downgraded products such as the H20 GPUs, which are tailored for the Chinese market.
However, in April 2025, the U.S. imposed even stricter limitations, banning the export of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China. Nvidia has said the move will cost the company around $5.5 billion in inventory-related charges and cause it to forgo approximately $15 billion in potential revenue, according to previous reports.
Alibaba’s latest earnings report showed strong financial performance, with Alibaba Cloud reporting a 13% year-on-year revenue increase, reaching CNY31.7 billion for the December quarter. The unit has recorded triple-digit AI-related product revenue growth for six consecutive quarters, making it the fastest-growing segment within the company over the past three years, according to the report.
