Alibaba to Build its First Data Center in PH

Chinese E-commerce, tech, and Internet giant Alibaba has unveiled its plans to build its first data center in the Philippines to further expand its footprint in Asia by the end of the year.

The new data center will extend the reach of Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba’s digital intelligence hub, in the Philippines. Services range from elastic compute, database, security and network services to machine learning and data analytics capabilities.

Furthermore, local businesses across sectors such as financial technology (FinTech), e-commerce, education and media will be able to have a chance at adopting and implementing cloud technologies more efficiently, positioning themselves better in capturing emerging opportunities in the country.

Alibaba Cloud Intelligence General Manager for Hong Kong, Macau, and Philippines Leo Liu said that the data center will serve as a catalyst for Philippine business to adopt to the cloud technology.

“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,” Liu said.

Liu further added that the company is looking forward to serve as the building block for the cloud ecosystem in the Philippines.

“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,” he added.

The Alibaba Cloud data center will be constructed in Manila, bringing the company’s total availability zones to 76 which is spread across 25 regions worldwide.

The new data center will also bring about job opportunities as the tech giant seeks to pool local talent for their new venture.

“These opportunities will be of great help to the government because this is a big hit for income generation,” Liu said.

The cloud service of Alibaba will include servers, storage, database, software, and analytics over the Internet for faster and more flexible access.

Officials from the company added that the Philippines is their biggest market in the Asia Pacific and it will also benefit from their newly launched program catering to countries in the region.

Meanwhile, Alibaba will also invest USD1 billion for a program benefitting Asian countries with a vision to foster about 1,000,000 digital talents, empower 100,000 developers, and accelerate the growth of 100,000 tech startups, according to a presentation by Liu.

Alibaba Cloud has seen great potential in the Philippines as they also announced the formation of the Philippines Ecosystem Alliance in 2020, aiming to fast-track the digitalization of local businesses and support the government’s Cloud First Policy.

Alibaba Cloud aims to train 50,000 local information technology professionals and help 5,000 businesses migrate online by 2023. (GFB)