Latest news with #AIGCC
Business Times
02-07-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Alibaba Cloud launches global AI innovation hub in Singapore, two data centres in Malaysia, Philippines
[SINGAPORE] Alibaba's cloud computing arm on Wednesday (Jul 2) launched a global artificial intelligence (AI) innovation hub in Singapore, which will support over 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers globally. Alibaba Cloud's virtual innovation hub, named AI Global Competency Centre (AIGCC) was unveiled at Alibaba Cloud's global summit held at Shangri-La Hotel. The fully-online facility will be where more than 1,000 companies and startups can meet to co-develop next-generation AI solutions, said Alibaba Cloud. The launch comes as the Chinese tech giant completes a decade of operations in Singapore, which has been the company's international headquarters from the start. Responding to queries from The Business Times, Alibaba Cloud said that Singapore's strong digital infrastructure, pro-innovation policies and deep talent pool make it the 'natural choice to lead the next phase of AI growth in the region'. The innovation hub will provide companies access to advanced AI models and powerful computing resources to accelerate experimentation and deployment. Its AI Innovation Lab will offer token credits, curated datasets and personalised support tailored to real-world scenarios and industry needs. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Businesses and developers interested in taking part in AIGCC will need to apply through Alibaba Cloud's designated channels. Those seeking access to the lab will need to show a relevant use case or project. The company said: 'Organisations and startups involved in developing next-generation AI solutions across industries such as finance, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail and energy will be particularly encouraged to participate.' Alibaba Cloud also announced its partnership with more than 120 universities and institutions globally the same day. It targets to train 100,000 AI professionals a year. Already, it has been working with local universities, including Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), to nurture the 'next generation of tech talent in the country'. NTU and Alibaba launched the Alibaba-NTU Global e-Sustainability CorpLab in 2024 to advance smart technologies for a greener society. Over the next five years, up to 200 scientists and engineers from the two sides will team up for global research in areas such as energy-efficient AI and green cloud computing. In 2024, SUSS and Alibaba Cloud worked together to launch the Alibaba Cloud Prize Competition to encourage innovation in integrated care using cloud computing and AI. Beyond Singapore, Alibaba Cloud on Wednesday also announced the opening of two data centres in South-east Asia. A new centre opened in Malaysia on Tuesday (Jul 1), the group's third such facility in the country. Alibaba Cloud is also slated to open a second data centre in the Philippines in October. In the first half of 2025, Alibaba Cloud announced infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico and South Korea. 'This growing network ensures that Alibaba Cloud can meet the rising global demand for secure, resilient and scalable cloud services.' Earlier this year, Alibaba Group said it would set aside at least 380 billion yuan (S$67.5 billion) over the next three years to advance its cloud computing and AI infrastructure. The development of data centres is part of the investment plan, said Alibaba Cloud.
Techday NZ
02-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Alibaba Cloud boosts APAC presence with new AI centre, data hubs
Alibaba Cloud has announced the launch of new data centres in Malaysia and the Philippines and the establishment of its first AI Global Competency Center in Singapore as part of its continued expansion across Asia Pacific and other regions. The announcement coincides with Alibaba Cloud's tenth anniversary in Singapore and the tenth year since it established its international headquarters in the city state. The company also revealed new upgrades to its cloud and AI technologies and released findings from a global study on green AI adoption. Regional expansion Alibaba Cloud has confirmed the opening of its third data centre in Malaysia and outlined plans to launch a second facility in the Philippines in the coming months. These additions follow recent infrastructure investments made in Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea earlier in the year. The company said the investments aim to support the rising demand for secure and scalable cloud solutions as more industries increase AI adoption. The expanded network is intended to provide capacity for businesses, developers, and organisations to innovate and manage growth across new markets. AI Global Competency Center Alibaba Cloud has launched its AI Global Competency Center (AIGCC) in Singapore. The centre targets support for more than 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers worldwide, providing access to AI models, advanced computing resources, and an AI innovation lab. The lab offers token credits, datasets, and personalised support designed around industry needs. The AIGCC will engage over 1,000 companies and startups to co-develop AI solutions, and will introduce more than 10 AI agents for use in sectors such as finance, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail, and energy. Alibaba Cloud has also committed to partnering with over 120 universities and institutions globally to train 100,000 AI professionals each year. Selina Yuan, President of International Business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said, "Over the past decade, Singapore has been both an innovation center and a gateway to the region's digital economy. As we celebrate this important milestone, we reaffirm our commitment to empowering businesses of all sizes and verticals while advancing cutting-edge AI innovations and driving sustainable digital transformation in Singapore for years to come. Together with our partners and customers, we look forward to shaping Singapore's future as a global leader in AI and cloud innovation." Technology developments Among the new cloud products presented, Alibaba Cloud has released upgrades to its Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings. The Data Transmission Service (DTS) now features "One Channel For AI", which manages both unstructured and structured data—ranging from documents to multimedia—into vector databases. This enables developers to create knowledge bases and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications more efficiently. The Platform for AI (PAI) has improved its inference capabilities, including optimisations for complex model architectures such as Mixture of Experts. A new feature, Expert Parallel (EP), aims to increase throughput for large language models (LLMs) while conserving computational resources. The Model Weights Service now allows for faster startup and scaling times, demonstrated by tests showing cold starts accelerated by up to 91.4% on certain models. Alibaba Cloud's ninth-generation Intel-based Enterprise Elastic Compute Service instances will be rolled out to new global markets, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Germany, and the UK. This model, first launched in April, reportedly offers 20% better computing efficiency compared to prior versions, with performance improvements of up to 50% for specific workloads. The company's sustainability platform, Energy Expert, has introduced an AI-driven ESG reporting solution built on Alibaba's own model, Qwen. This platform aims to streamline ESG report generation and compliance, providing automated content creation and structured guidance for organisations needing to align with international standards such as ISSB, GRI, and SASB. Findings on green AI Alibaba Cloud has published results from a global Forrester Consulting survey on green AI, in collaboration with NTU Global e-Sustainability CorpLab. The survey—of over 464 business and IT leaders—revealed 84% of those with sustainability strategies regard green AI as important, but 69% of organisations remain at an early stage of adoption. Key barriers identified included a lack of sustainably sourced AI hardware materials and challenges in optimising data centre energy use. Significant skills and knowledge gaps were also reported, with 74% indicating uncertainty around defining green AI strategies and 76% lacking operational expertise in the field. The study recommends strategies like powering data centres with renewable energy, optimising models for edge computing, and enhancing regulatory collaboration. Customer engagement Several international clients were highlighted for their collaborations with Alibaba Cloud. These include GoTo Group, which migrated its business intelligence platform to Alibaba Cloud's MaxCompute solution, aiming for greater scalability and resilience. William Xiong, Group Chief Technology Officer of GoTo Group, said during the summit, "The migration to Alibaba Cloud's MaxCompute has enhanced the scalability and resilience of our data platform. By delivering cost efficiency, performance parity, and operational continuity, this collaboration strengthens the technical foundation for GoTo's ecosystem. This partnership positions us to drive innovation and deliver transformative solutions for millions of users across the ecosystem, while staying aligned with Indonesia's data sovereignty goals." GoTo Financial also reported efficiency gains through Alibaba Cloud's database products, including PolarDB and Tair, which now support over 500 microservices with low latency. Qwen, Alibaba's large language model family, continues to be deployed in numerous markets. VisionTech, based in Singapore, has integrated Qwen into its generative AI platform to support multilingual operations. The company reports a 25% reduction in infrastructure costs and improved response times as a result. "Our partnership with Alibaba Cloud allows us to deliver smarter, scalable, and enterprise-ready AI solutions while maintaining operational efficiency and customer satisfaction," said Lim Hui Jie, CEO of VisionTech. "Qwen's strong performance in handling multilingual conversational inputs and real-time translation gives us a distinct edge over other LLMs, enabling us to fast-track deployments and improve user engagement— whether it's English, Chinese, Malay, or Japanese. By dynamically switching languages in real-time, our AI bots create a seamless experience that resonates with users in various markets, ensuring that our solutions feel native and culturally aligned." FLUX in Japan and Al-Futtaim in the Middle East have also joined partnerships with Alibaba Cloud, focusing on deploying Qwen-based solutions and expanding the reach of AI-powered services in their respective markets.
