Alibaba Cloud Goes Global With $52 Billion Bet on AI and Infrastructure
By Bao Yunhong and Denise Jia
Alibaba Cloud is doubling down on globalization with a bold new strategy and 380-billion-yuan ($52.7 billion) investment plan aimed at creating a unified global cloud network and accelerate the international rollout of its AI offerings.
The initiative seeks to establish Alibaba Cloud as the digital backbone for China’s next generation of global companies.
Speaking at the Alibaba Cloud “Go Global Summit” on Thursday, Wu Yongming, Alibaba Group CEO and Alibaba Cloud chairman, said China’s globalization is entering a new era — one led not just by product exports but by the global rise of Chinese technology, brands and advanced manufacturing.
“We’re building the digital infrastructure that will pave the way for Chinese enterprises to thrive on the world stage,” Wu said.
The push comes as Chinese firms in sectors such as automotive and home appliances shift from exporting goods to managing full-scale overseas operations. For instance, carmaker GAC Group, plans to enter over 100 countries and regions within three years and aims to boost overseas sales to 500,000 vehicles a year, accounting for 20% of total sales. To support this, GAC is investing in digital solutions for marketing, compliance, R&D and intelligent driving, while grappling with data sovereignty, supply chains and local regulations.
Liu Xiangyang, Midea Group’s chief information security officer, echoed similar concerns. noting that many Chinese firms face trade-offs between data center flexibility and compliance. The reality of operating in multiple cloud environments — both domestic and international — can bring compatibility and migration challenges, he said. This has prompted the home appliance maker to build a unified digital infrastructure to synchronize global operations.
Wu outlined three strategic priorities to strengthen Alibaba Cloud’s global position. First is building a single, globally competitive cloud network optimized for AI. Over the next three years, Alibaba will pour more than 380 billion yuan into cloud and AI infrastructure — more than its total investment over the previous decade.
Currently, Alibaba Cloud operates 87 availability zones in 29 global regions, offering 394 cloud and AI products and 59 technical services. New data centers will launch this year in the UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Mexico. “We’re unifying our domestic and overseas infrastructure under a single architecture and platform,” Wu said.
The second priority is accelerating the global rollout of Alibaba’s proprietary AI models and tools. The company has open-sourced more than 200 large language models, with more than 100,000 derivative models. Its latest “Qwen 3” model supports 119 languages, and services like Model Studio and PAI (Platform for AI) are already deployed across 17 global regions, delivering Application Programming Interfaces and training platforms to Chinese enterprises expanding abroad.
Alibaba Cloud also plans to expand its global consulting, engineering and compliance teams. With more than 150 global compliance certifications already secured, the company aims to export its own globalization know-how to help clients navigate complex data regulations in diverse markets.
Zhou Jingren, Alibaba Cloud’s chief technical officer and head of its AI research unit Tongyi Lab, highlighted new tools such as Qwen 3, the Wan visual generation model and the ModelScope platform. He also previewed the upcoming launch of AgentScope, a framework designed for building autonomous AI agents.
Han Hongyuan, vice president of Alibaba Cloud and chief architect of its public cloud unit, emphasized that public cloud services not only offer scalable infrastructure, but also lower the barrier to deploying advanced technologies — giving companies a competitive edge as they expand into new markets.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com)
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