Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce firm, has opened its cloud computing center in Silicon Valley, California, as part of its expansion plan to enter and compete in the U.S. market alongside big-name tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, among others.
Reuters reported that Alibaba's new data hub is considered to be the company's first center outside of China, highlighting its intention to further pursue its intention to compete globally.
The report said that Aliyun, also known as the company's cloud division, intends to cater first to Chinese companies in the United States who are mostly engaged in retail, Internet services and gaming. As conceived, the division will later expand to include U.S. businesses who intend to do business in both countries, the report added.
Ethan Yu, vice president and manager of Alibaba's international cloud business, told Reuters that the launching of the data center in Silicon Valley is a strategic move for the company, which is gearing for international expansion.
"Eventually we may expand to other regions, for example the East Coast or middle part of the U.S., if our customers have the demand for that," the executive was quoted as saying.
Aliyun started as part of the company's in-house technical infrastructure, which has but has since expanded to storage space and lease processing for small and medium businesses in China.
Reuters reported that Aliyun has 23-percent market share in the Chinese market despite Alibaba's dominance in e-commerce in the country. Its competitors include both Chinese and foreign companies such as China Telecom, Amazon and Microsoft.
Alibaba's data centers are located in Hong Kong, Qingdao, Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.
A Global Times report said that Alibaba has also invested 2.4 billion yuan in Enlight Media, a private entertainment and media group.