The cloud computing unit of Alibaba Group Holding said on Wednesday that it is ramping up investment in data centers abroad, a move that will pit the Chinese e-commerce giant against U.S.-based Amazon.com Inc in cloud computing over the next few years.
A second data center will soon be opened in the U.S., where the first opened in March, Hu Xiaoming, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing, told reporters on Wednesday.
An array of data centers will be established in Asian countries including Japan, Singapore and India, as well as the Middle East and Europe, over the next 12 to 18 months, said Hu.
He made the comments during the company's inaugural data technology day, which was held in Beijing.
"We hope to be able to match or even outperform Amazon [in cloud computing] in the next three to four years," Hu said.
The exact investment in Alibaba's data center network was not revealed.
As to the Taiwan market, Hu said that it would be much easier for cloud computing companies based in the Chinese mainland to form partnerships with their Taiwan counterparts, rather than making a direct foray into that market.
Also at Wednesday's event, Alibaba Cloud Computing issued a data protection pact, outlining its commitment to the protection of consumer and business data privacy.
The policy is a fresh move to ease lingering concerns over data security, which is particularly an issue for cloud computing companies expanding beyond their home markets.
While respecting local laws and regulations would always be the top principle as Alibaba expanded into cloud computing overseas, the data protection pledge will strengthen trust in the use of cloud computing services that are offered by Alibaba, Hu said.
