Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said March 15 that it launched its first data center in Indonesia to address demand among small and medium-sized enterprises for scalable cloud services.
The Chinese e-commerce and technology company's facility will offer cloud services including database management, networking and security.
The move expands Alibaba Cloud data centers to 18 countries and regions worldwide. It is also meant to support a government-backed initiative to create 1,000 startups in Indonesia worth $10 billion by 2020.
Aside from establishing the data center, Alibaba Cloud will hold a professional training program in the country, where 300 people will be taught about cloud computing, big data and security technology.
Alibaba posted a 104% year-over-year increase in cloud computing revenue in the three-month period ended December 2017, the Nikkei Asian Review reported March 15.
The company reportedly may have an advantage in Indonesia via its cloud services and its investments in local startups such as PT Tokopedia, which already moved 60% to 70% of its cloud operations to Alibaba Cloud. Furthermore, Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma has been appointed as an adviser to the Indonesian government, in a move to develop the country's e-commerce industry.
