Alibaba’s Cloud Unit Will Expand Services To The Middle East

Aliyun, the cloud computing subsidiary of Chinese e-retail giant Alibaba, has announced plans to bring its cloud services to private and public sector organizations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

This morning, at a signing ceremony in Hangzhou, China, Aliyun announced a joint venture with Meraas, a Dubai government-owned holding group with close ties to Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The two companies will establish a Dubai-based joint venture specializing in application development, citizenship e-services, and big-data operations, with a focus on analytics and payment solutions, according to an Alibaba blog post.

In a prepared statement, Abdulla Al Habbai, group chair many of Meraas said that the joint venture is in line with Dubai’s initiative to “transform the emirate into a smart city.”

“We strongly believe that the new company will alter the information technology landscape of the region,” said Habbai.

The joint venture could also change the landscape of the cloud computing market. Aliyun already boasts 1.4 million customers as of June 1st (some analysts and pundits have speculated that the company is larger than Amazon Web Services) and cloud computing is set for massive growth in the MENA region. MENA regional spending on IT is set to surpass $270 billion this year, according to a recent IDC report.

“Dubai’s advanced infrastructure and economic strength is a good match for our technology edge [sic],” said Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Executive Chairman, in a statement. “We will be able to provide local entrepreneurs with the vital infrastructure that will ignite innovation and help them to succeed.”

This move comes just two months after Aliyun opened its first overseas data center in Silicon Valley and marks a clear trend towards expansion into new regions and industries for the Alibaba Group.