Chinese tech giant Alibaba expands into UK by opening London data centres
The opening of two new data centres marks the group’s first expansion into the UK
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.China’s Alibaba has opened two data centres in London, bringing its business into the UK for the first time.
The e-commerce giant has been working to expand its cloud computing arm in Europe in recent months, and has also opened centres in Frankfurt this year.
The London operations will offer 24/7 on-site support, including security and engineering, the group said.
The Chinese group is competing with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM to become the world’s biggest cloud computing business – it currently ranks fifth.
Alibaba Cloud’s EMEA general manager, Yeming Wang, said: “Our expansion into the United Kingdom, and by extension into Europe, is in direct response to the rapidly increasing demands we have seen for local facilities within the region.
“Using AI-powered and data-driven technology, our latest data centres will offer customers complete access to our wide range of cloud services, from machine learning capabilities to predictive data analytics, ensuring that we continue to offer an unparalleled level of service. We are incredibly proud to take this latest step in our continued investment in EMEA.”
Last month, Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced that he was retiring.
He said at the time: “There’s a lot of things I can learn from Bill Gates. I can never be as rich, but one thing I can do better is to retire earlier.
“I think some day, and soon, I’ll go back to teaching. This is something I think I can do much better than being CEO of Alibaba.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments