6 billion yuan of capital increase is just the beginning. Alibaba Cloud intends to become the engine of the DT era

Earlier this year, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma publicly described his ideal future of the Internet: "In the past, we started from Internet entrepreneurship to Internet industry, and soon entered the Internet economy. We are now moving from IT to the DT era. DT is not just a technological upgrade, but an upgrade of ideas. The difference between the DT and IT eras is that IT is self-centered, while DT is others-centered."

Today, at the press conference on the cooperation between Alibaba and UFIDA Network, Alibaba officially announced a strategic investment of RMB 6 billion in its Alibaba Cloud, and said, "Alibaba Cloud has ushered in the best opportunity to take a further step in technology and business and become the engine of the DT world."

Alibaba's investment in cloud computing has become its top priority strategy

In the past six years, Alibaba Cloud has covered games, multimedia, government, medical care, Internet of Things, finance and other fields. Although there is still a certain distance compared with giants such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft, it has been regarded as a killer business of Alibaba.

It is understood that the 6 billion yuan of capital increase will be mainly used for the expansion of Alibaba Cloud's international business, the research and development of basic and forward-looking technologies in the fields of cloud computing and big data, and the construction of the DT ecosystem.

In this regard, Alibaba Group CEO Zhang Yong said that Alibaba Cloud has ushered in the best opportunity and will make further progress in technology and business to become the engine of the DT world. "The 6 billion investment is just the beginning. We hope that Alibaba Cloud can continue to empower all merchants and partners with new capabilities, help all companies upgrade their infrastructure, directly connect with consumers, transform data into productivity, and ultimately move from IT to DT."

In terms of international business, in addition to the current six data centers including Silicon Valley and Hong Kong, Alibaba Cloud plans to set up a second data center in Hong Kong and the United States, and deploy new data centers in Singapore, the Middle East, Japan, and Europe. In terms of technology research and development, Alibaba Cloud will increase its investment in the research and development of chips, storage, network hardware, large-scale computing clusters, and software and hardware integration. In terms of DT ecosystem construction, Alibaba Cloud will explore and invest in the field of big data and formulate support plans for partners to transform to DT.

Cooperation with UFIDA is expected

Earlier, there was news that Alibaba would reach in-depth cooperation with UFIDA Network. The official announcement of the cooperation between the two parties was also expected. UFIDA can provide Alibaba with the customers and data it needs, and after connecting with Alibaba Cloud, it has also accelerated UFIDA's Internet transformation.

Wang Wenjing, CEO of UFIDA Network, also revealed the original intention of the cooperation in his speech at the scene. "We hope to connect e-commerce and cloud computing services with enterprise management and operation services by connecting with Alibaba's ecological resources, creating a convergence effect and new value for corporate customers. While fully serving the Internetization of Chinese and global enterprises, it will also accelerate UFIDA's own innovative development."

In the early stage of the cooperation, the two parties mainly cooperated in four major areas, including enterprise cloud computing, e-commerce, big data, and digital marketing. According to industry analysts, UFIDA is the largest SaaS service provider in China, and Alibaba Cloud is the largest IaaS platform in China. The combination of the two will drive at least 30% of Chinese companies to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing.

When Jack Ma was advocating for the "DT era", he expressed the following view: "In the next 20 years, if Internet companies cannot perfectly integrate with traditional industries, they will not survive well. Similarly, if traditional enterprises do not integrate with Internet technology and ideas, I believe these traditional industries and enterprises will not survive long. Therefore, for us, the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge in the future DT era is to develop the so-called Internet economy, which is the perfect combination of traditional industries and IT industries."

In the face of strong demand for cloud services from enterprises, it is foreseeable that a "cloud war" between giants will be inevitable.

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.