Cross-border

Alibaba Cloud’s JV Opens Two Data Centers in Saudi Arabia

Jun 07, 2022, 18:25pm2022/06/07 23:16:28 Pandaily

Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) jointly announced in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that two data centers in the city were officially opened. The facilities will be operated by Saudi Cloud Computing Company (SCCC), a joint venture established by both parties, and will first provide public cloud services to the Saudi Arabian market.

Earlier, STC announced that it would jointly establish a cloud computing joint venture with Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud and Yida Capital. STC, the largest mobile and telecommunications operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has reached cooperation with Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud to expand its services scope all across Saudi Arabia.

The two new data centers will be operated by SCCC. Its business scenarios involve flexible computing, storage, networks and databases, and more.

At the inauguration ceremony of SCCC held in Riyadh on Sunday, Yuan Qian, head of the Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud Intelligent International Division, said: “This is an innovative cooperation model. Through JV, we look forward to combining the technological advantages of Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud and the local business and ecological advantages of STC to provide safe and flexible cloud computing services for the Saudi market.”

To promote Saudi Vision 2030, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) launched a data center strategic plan in 2021. In recent years, Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud has reached several cooperation agreements in Saudi Arabia. In August of last year, it announced collaboration with the Saudi Tourism Bureau to help it enhance the digital experience of tourists through cloud computing platforms and technical support.

Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud has achieved rapid growth in overseas markets. In the past three years, the scale of overseas markets increased by more than 10 times, ranking first in the Asia-Pacific region. It also is expanding business into the Middle East and Europe. Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud operates a data center in Dubai. During the 2021 Dubai World Expo, Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud provided livestreaming technical support for the China Pavilion.

SEE ALSO: Alibaba Cloud, Saudi Telecom Company and EWTP Arabia Capital Form Joint Venture

At present, Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud operates 84 available areas in 27 regions around the world, and it also owns the largest cloud infrastructure in Asia. According to Gartner’s latest data, Alibaba<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Cloud ranked third in the global cloud computing market in 2021 and first in the Asia-Pacific market. Its share of the global market is 9.55%.