Alibaba Denies Setting Up Global HQ in Singapore
Chinese tech giant Alibaba denied a rumor on January 27 that it is planning to build global headquarters in Singapore, adding that the firm had participated in the construction of a joint facility with local partners in 2019 to provide office space for various Southeast Asian business units under Lazada and other subsidiaries.
In 2013, Alibaba established its global headquarters in Yuhang District, Hangzhou, China’s Zhejiang Province, meanwhile gradually carrying out expansions of its Xixi campus. After 10 years of construction, it will be fully completed according to the plan before the end of this year, with a capacity of 60,000 employees. The design and construction of the park focus on the concept of “ESG, science and technology, people-oriented,” and integrate environmental protection and ecological technologies such as sponge city, rainwater recovery, carbon neutrality, unmanned robots, and biodiversity conservation.
“Alibaba was born, grew up and developed in Hangzhou. It is natural and inevitable that Alibaba‘s global headquarters is always in Hangzhou. At the same time, the company hopes to take root in China and expand to the world, actively promote its own globalization construction, and become a Chinese enterprise founded by the Chinese and with global competitiveness,” said an Alibaba spokesperson.
In the past, rumors that Alibaba had built a global headquarters overseas and that firm founder Jack Ma had permanently moved approad have occasionally emerged, but they have always been denied. A January 20 report by Hong Kong media asserted that Ma had recently arrived in the city to prepare for Chinese New Year, dispelling rumors that he had settled in Japan or immigrated to Singapore.
In the past year, Ma has visited many research institutions in the Netherlands, Japan, and Southeast Asia to inspect agricultural and fishery technology, repeatedly stating that rural education and public welfare will be the focus of his future work.
Nonetheless, Singapore represents an important entrance point for Alibaba‘s global expansion. By 2022, Alibaba Cloud had set up six overseas service centers in Portugal, Mexico, Malaysia and other locations, all of which have been completed and put into use. On January 9 this year, Alibaba Cloud announced at the Singapore Summit that it would further increase overseas investment, set up an international capabilities center in Singapore and comprehensively upgrade its overseas service system.
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The international capabilities center set up by Alibaba Cloud in Singapore includes four fields: products, ecology, operations and branding. In the past, Alibaba Cloud mainly provided general-purpose products for the international market. After the completion of this new center, a local product innovation team will be set up to design products, services and solutions that are more in line with local characteristics and respond to customer needs in a timely manner.
