Alibaba to offer cloud computing service in Brazil – Xinhua
What happened: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is bringing its cloud computing services to Brazil in a bid to serve the growing need of Chinese companies in the South American country. Alibaba Cloud, the cloud subsidiary of Alibaba Group, will start offering services in Brazil in the coming months after reaching a deal with Brazilian IT firm UOL Diveo to resell its cloud services. The two have been negotiating the terms of the agreement over the past three months.
Why it’s important: Alibaba Cloud is growing its presence overseas as competition in China heats up. Cloud computing has become a core business for leading tech companies in China including Alibaba and Tencent. Alibaba is a top cloud service provider in Asia, but its expansion abroad may not be smooth sailing. It has a very limited presence in South America and the global cloud market is still largely dominated by US tech companies Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.