Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent, has completed the construction of a new data center in India, highlighting its efforts to shift to enterprises and increase its presence in South Asia.
The India center will be the company’s second in the country. Like the first, which was launched in March this year, the new Indian data center is located in the country’s financial capital of Mumbai, serving as a hub for Tencent’s cloud services throughout South Asia.
The company aims to service both international companies as well as Chinese firms that are interested in reaching the Indian market. Tencent Cloud India has been working with short video app Kuaishou, online multiplayer game Freefire and Karaoke app Sing! since they began operations in the country earlier this year. The company aims to strengthen its foothold in the country with a second center.
The news comes as Tencent shifts to business customers, driven by regulatory trouble with its domestic consumer-facing businesses, including gaming. In line with the adjustment, the firm set up the Cloud and Smart Industries Group (CSIG) in a restructuring process that was rolled out in September. CSIG will emphasize Tencent Cloud, smart retail, education, healthcare, security and location-based services for industry solutions, according to the company.
Tencent isn’t the only company that is putting an emphasis on its cloud business. Both e-commerce firm Alibaba and search giant Baidu have recently announced restructuring plans to make similar moves.
As a relatively latecomer, Tencent is playing catch-up with industry titans Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and long-time rival Alibaba Cloud. With the support of its parent company, Tencent Cloud is expanding rapidly. This year, the company has opened data centers in Hong Kong, Thailand, the United States, India, and Moscow. It now operates 51 centers in 25 regions around the world.