The expansion is expected to double the capacity of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud portfolio in China in the coming years, which includes Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform operated by 21Vianet.
According to the white paper China Cloud Industry Development, the cloud market in China is expected to reach $46 billion in 2023.
“This unveils a big opportunity,” said Alain Crozier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Greater China Region (GCR).
“Microsoft Cloud operated by 21Vianet was the first international public cloud compliantly launched in China through a local operating partner.
“Our intelligent, trustworthy, and neutral cloud platform has been empowering hundreds of thousands of developers, partners, and customers from both China and the world to achieve more with technical innovation and business transformation.
“The upcoming region will reinforce the capabilities to help further nurture local talents, stimulate local innovation, grow local technology ecosystems, and empower businesses in a wide range of industries to achieve more."
In response to the pandemic, 63% of organisations in China are leveraging cloud-related innovations to accelerate digitization in their products, payments, e-commerce and automation, as well as others.
In China, Microsoft has been collaborating with 21Vianet to run all its essential cloud services since 2014.
Announced in 2012, and officially launched in March 2014 with two initial regions, Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet was the first international public cloud service to become generally available in the China market.
Following Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform operated by 21Vianet successively launched in China in 2014, 2019, and 2020.
In accordance with Chinese regulatory requirements, Azure regions operated by 21Vianet in China are physically separated instances from Microsoft’s global cloud but are built on the same cloud technical base as its global peers.
