The data centre is scheduled for launch in 2022 and will carry a range of Alibaba services and solutions including those used to support the group's international operation around retail, logistics, fintech, media and entertainment and digital marketing.
It will be the group's first facility in the country.
“Our current plan is to set up a data centre in Thailand where we see a lot of growing demand to support the local business community with its digital transformation efforts," said Tyler Qiu, GM for Thailand, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
"As a leading global cloud services provider, we understand how critical digitalisation is for the country and the benefits it can bring over the long term. We are dedicated to making our solutions available to all and working with Thai partners to create an ecosystem of support for a digital future,” Qiu added.
Supporting this move Alibaba Cloud has launched a sales, marketing and technical support "ecosystem" branded Thailand Partner Alliance 100.
It allows businesses to access key digital enablement tools within the ecosystem and solution partners will receive highly competitive margins for key products including ECS, Database, CDN and SMS. The company will also offer dedicated technical support and technology integration funds for solution partners to innovate on Alibaba Cloud, and service partners can receive to migration support and free cloud credits.
For example, Thai retailers will benefit from the Alibaba Cloud solutions that support Lazada, the group's e-commerce platform, while financial firms will be able to use services such as eKYC technology support, the mobile onboarding of new customers and AI-enabled digital credit lending solutions.
Finally, Alibaba Cloud confirmed its Academic Empowerment Program for students, educators and researchers, through which they can tap free cloud-computing resources, training opportunities and financial support to bolster their knowledge in line with Thailand 4.0, the Thai government’s 20-year strategy to promote digital innovation and the development of sustainable technologies.
The initiative has a target to train 20,000 participants in digital literacy skills by 2023. One local pioneer embarking on the talent empowerment journey with Alibaba Cloud is Mahidol University.
“Gartner forecasted that global end-user spending on public cloud services is to grow 23.1% in 2021 as compared to in 2020 [1]. Given the rapid rate of cloud adoption worldwide and the opportunities it presents to local businesses, one of our priorities is to work closely with Thai partners to empower customers’ digital transformation journeys,” said Selina Yuan, general manager of international business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “Our valuable business insights into the APAC region supporting various verticals, coupled with our leading technology solutions serving global clients, form a solid base for partners to grow their innovation capabilities and expand their business outreach with us.”
