Alibaba Cloud closes some key data centers as it focuses on other markets
Alibaba has confirmed that its cloud data center operations in Australia and India will be closed.
The company revealed it would close some data centers to boost investment in others, with South East Asia and Mexico the main beneficiaries of the change, despite previously saying its Australian operations would be unaffected.
Once in effect, data stored in the Sydney and Mumbai regions will no longer be accessible. Alternatively, migration to other Alibaba Cloud data centers such as Singapore is suggested.
Alibaba Cloud closes data centers
The company confirmed in a rack: “As part of Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure strategy update, after careful review, we have decided to cease operations at our data centers in Australia and India while increasing our investments in Southeast Asia and Mexico.”
The data center in India will cease operations after midnight (UTC+5:30) on July 15, while Australia will follow suit from midnight (UTC+10) on September 30.
Alibaba did not share a reason for its decision to pull out of the two nearby markets, but public sentiment toward China amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and the relative stronghold of AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and OVH in Australia could have played a role in Alibaba’s exit.
Earlier in May, Alibaba Cloud announced revealed its plans to build additional data centers in “key markets” including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and South Korea over the next three years. The Chinese company also confirmed plans to launch its first cloud region in Mexico.
Selina Yuan, president of International Business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said at the Alibaba Cloud Global Summit in Paris: “With the rapidly rising demand for AI across industries, we are strengthening our commitment to expanding our AI infrastructure and improving our cloud capabilities. worldwide.”
However, now that the company has exited two sizable markets, customers are left with another option than migrating to another region – to another provider altogether – highlighting the potentially dire consequences of Alibaba’s decision.