It's not just about launching a new LOGO. Why is Alibaba Cloud trying so hard to accelerate its internationalization?

A few years ago, an analyst predicted that "competition in the cloud computing market will sooner or later be separated from local competition."

This is indeed the case. In 2015, competition in the cloud computing market was fierce. Based on the development of the cloud market last year, IDC made a prediction that cloud computing will have an unshakable fundamental position in the future IT field, and digital transformation will become the mainstream of the industry in 2016.

As competition becomes more globalized, Alibaba Cloud, the leader in China's cloud business, is facing unprecedented pressure.

Amazon in front and Tencent behind, the cloud market melee has begun

Cloud computing is increasingly favored by enterprises and entrepreneurs because of its advantages such as significantly reducing expenditures and reducing the maintenance and management costs of infrastructure. As a pioneer in the domestic cloud computing market, Alibaba started its cloud business as early as 2009. Seven years later, Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, LeTV, and Xiaomi all followed suit in the hope of getting a share of the cloud market.

How much do the companies value cloud business? We can get a rough idea from the frequency of attendance of the leaders of each brand. This year's cloud business summit was full of climaxes. Jack Ma, Robin Li, and Pony Ma all appeared at the venue to promote their own cloud business and strive to win more user support. Brands that have deeply cultivated vertical fields such as QingCloud and Qiniu are also eager to try.

Compared with the fierce competition in the domestic market, the follow-up of international giants makes the situation more urgent. Recently, Google acquired Orbitera, a cloud market platform startup, for US$100 million to strengthen its ability to compete with Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce in the field of cloud computing services. Amazon has also recently ended its trial in China and intends to join the competition in the domestic cloud computing market.

Profitability is the fundamental reason for the chaos in the cloud market.

The latest financial reports of US stocks show that cloud computing business has become the driving force behind the performance growth of technology giants. Amazon's AWS cloud business revenue reached US$2.89 billion in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 58%, accounting for 30% of the company's total revenue. Alibaba Cloud has maintained a three-digit revenue growth in the past four quarters and is becoming the "third stage rocket" after Alibaba Group's e-commerce and payment.

In addition, research reports from multiple institutions including Deutsche Bank show that with the explosive growth in the number of users, the size of China's cloud computing market is rapidly approaching that of the Western market.

All of a sudden, the cloud computing market emerged, foreign manufacturers coveted the Chinese market, and domestic manufacturers were also forced to go overseas.

A new LOGO triggers Alibaba's internationalization process

Alibaba is so astute that it cannot fail to notice the threats from Amazon and Microsoft, as well as the covetous eyes of Tencent and Baidu, so it is imperative to go overseas.

On August 9, Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of a new dynamic LOGO at the Yunqi Conference Beijing Summit. The new LOGO uses a simple symbol design to more clearly demonstrate Alibaba Cloud's concept of "for incalculable value". Alibaba Cloud's internationalization strategy was also officially launched.

This is the second time that Alibaba Cloud has updated its LOGO since its establishment in 2009. The most familiar "cloud" LOGO has been used for nearly six years. As Alibaba Cloud exports massive computing, big data processing, middleware and security capabilities to the whole society, Alibaba Cloud has a deeper understanding that the essence of cloud is computing, and "computing is redefining the world before our eyes." The simple "cloud" can no longer accurately express Alibaba Cloud's philosophy and meet the company's development needs in domestic and overseas markets. This is also the original intention of upgrading the LOGO.

In an open email, Alibaba Cloud President Hu Xiaoming explained in detail the strategic thinking behind the launch of the new LOGO: From China to the world - code is a universal language without borders. The design inspiration of the new LOGO comes from code, representing Alibaba Cloud's dream of serving China and the world.

As Alibaba Cloud's pace of going global continues to accelerate, it has begun to stand shoulder to shoulder with Amazon and Microsoft's cloud computing, and a "3A tripartite" (AWS, Alibaba Cloud, and Azure) pattern is taking shape.

In June, Morgan Stanley released a report saying that Alibaba's cloud computing business, Ali Cloud, is rising rapidly, and its separate valuation has reached $39 billion. Ali Cloud has three advantages in the Chinese market: unquestionable leadership, rapid growth in the number of paying users, and broad space for product monetization. Rather than being set on fire by Amazon in the backyard, Ali Cloud should take the initiative. It can be predicted that Ali will not be the only one to choose to expand its cloud business overseas in the future, and the one who moves the fastest may be able to grab more market share.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.