Author | Chai Xucheng

Edited | Zhou Zhiyu

Alibaba, which aims to make business easy for everyone, is turning its attention to Chinese enterprises going overseas amid the wave of globalization.

On May 22, at the Alibaba Cloud Conference for Chinese Enterprises Going Abroad, Alibaba Group CEO and Chairman of Alibaba Cloud, Wu Yongming, stated that Alibaba Cloud will make strategic investments to accelerate the creation of a global cloud computing network, speed up the internationalization of AI products, and enhance the construction of overseas consulting, technology, and service teams to pave the way for Chinese enterprises going abroad.

"In 1999, Alibaba’s first business, alibaba.com, was created to help Chinese enterprises go overseas by selling Chinese Commodities abroad and facilitating global trade. Now, as Chinese enterprises go overseas, we have entered a new phase where we are no longer limited to exporting Commodities, but also exporting Chinese technology, brands, and high-end manufacturing to the world."

Wu Yongming stated that going global is inevitable for the development of Chinese enterprises. China has a massive market of 1.4 billion people, the richest application scenarios, the largest number of high-quality engineers globally, as well as intense and diverse competition.

In his view, products and technologies that succeed in the Chinese market will also play an important role in the global market. China has already achieved CSI Leading Technology Index in areas such as 5G, AI, and Smart Automobiles. Chinese enterprises' technology, supply chain, service, and brand capabilities have formed spillover effects. In the future, Chinese enterprises will have greater influence in the global market.

Wu Yongming pointed out that a new round of globalization for Chinese enterprises will inevitably require a new generation of infrastructure. Alibaba Cloud will increase investment in three areas to fully support Chinese enterprises going global:

First is to accelerate the creation of a global cloud computing network. Currently, Alibaba Cloud operates 87 availability zones in 29 regions worldwide and offers 394 cloud and AI products, along with 59 technical services, making it the largest cloud service provider in the Asia-Pacific region.

Wu Yongming stated that in the next three years, Alibaba will invest over 380 billion in building cloud and AI hardware infrastructure, exceeding the total of the past decade. According to the plan, Alibaba Cloud will accelerate the creation of a global cloud computing network covering China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, a cloud computing network with the best AI technology service capabilities and global competitiveness.

Internally, Alibaba Cloud revealed that it will maintain a unified technical architecture and service platform for both domestic and overseas infrastructure, providing a comprehensive solution for Chinese enterprises expanding their global business.

In addition to infrastructure, Alibaba Cloud will also promote the internationalization of models and accelerate the globalization of AI products.

It is reported that currently, Alibaba Tongyi has open-sourced over 200 models, with more than 0.1 million derivative models, making it the largest open-source model group in the world. The newly open-sourced next-generation model, Qianwen 3, supports 119 languages, covering many minority languages and dialects. In Japan, Southeast Asia, and various Middle Eastern countries, Qianwen has already become a popular choice among local developers.

Currently, Alibaba Cloud is accelerating the internationalization of AI products, while increasing the layout of overseas AI infrastructure and accelerating the deployment of products necessary for AI applications such as Tongyi, Bailing, PAI, and big data. At the infrastructure level, Alibaba Cloud Lingjun will launch services in multiple overseas regions; at the platform level, PAI's development, training, and inference services have covered 17 regions worldwide; at the model service level, Alibaba Cloud Bailing's international site ModelStudio has added multiple capabilities, providing more efficient and affordable model API services for Chinese enterprises going global.

After paving the way with infrastructure and model services, Alibaba Cloud's another strategy is to create a unified service experience both domestically and internationally. It is important to note that the ever-evolving privacy protection laws and data management laws in overseas markets are not friendly to domestic players looking to go abroad in large numbers.

According to Alibaba Cloud, it will enhance its investment in outbound consulting, technology, and service teams. Currently, Alibaba Cloud possesses the most comprehensive compliance system globally and has obtained over 150 security compliance certifications. Alibaba Cloud will continue to strengthen compliance capability construction and share Alibaba's own overseas experience to help Chinese enterprises address complex IT compliance challenges in various global markets.

In addition, Alibaba Cloud will offer solutions with better ROI. In May 2014, Alibaba Cloud's Hong Kong data center was put into operation, marking Alibaba Cloud's formal entry into the international cloud computing market. To date, Alibaba Cloud has served 0.25 million Chinese enterprises going abroad, covering various industries.

It is reported that Midea Group has built a digital foundation for overseas regional business based on Alibaba Cloud's public cloud computing capabilities, including storage, cloud networking, cloud security, and cloud database. In the future, the two sides will engage in more cooperation in the areas of going abroad and AI.

Xu Zhe, Deputy General Manager of the Marketing Department of East China Airlines, stated that East China Airlines relies on Alibaba Cloud's 'Cloud + AI' to achieve accelerated technology iteration, supporting innovations in outbound business such as orders, compliance, marketing, and AI applications.

Guangzhou Automobile Group has adopted a hybrid architecture of 'Regional Center + National Station' planned by Alibaba Cloud, solving compliance challenges, and the overseas vehicle networking system has been built on Alibaba Cloud. Wang Qijun, head of infrastructure at Guangzhou Automobile Group, stated that in the Middle East, the vehicle networking system significantly improved efficiency after adopting Alibaba Cloud's Lindorm big data engine, with data processing costs reduced by 50% compared to similar products from overseas cloud vendors.

Wu Yongming stated: 'In the face of a new round of historic opportunities, Alibaba Cloud will make strategic investments to provide first-class infrastructure, technology, and services for Chinese enterprises going abroad, standing shoulder to shoulder with Chinese enterprises globally, embarking on a new era of great navigation.'