Could be formally announced on June 19
Alibaba Cloud is reportedly nearing the launch of a new data center in South Korea.
As reported by Munhwa and citing "industry sources," the Chinese cloud company plans to officially announce a new data center in the country on June 19.
DCD has contacted Alibaba for confirmation of the new data center.
Alibaba Group first announced plans for a South Korea cloud region in late 2021, opening its first data center in the country in March 2022.
The Chinese cloud company has been pushing ahead with global buildout plans this year, with CEO Eddie Wu confirming last month that the company intends to spend around $52.7 billion in establishing a "unified global cloud network."
That network identified Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas as potential target markets. At present, Alibaba Cloud operates 87 availability zones across 29 regions. This year it has launched a new region in Mexico, and a second data center in Thailand.
The big three US hyperscalers also have cloud regions in South Korea.
Microsoft launched two regions in South Korea – the Central region in Seoul and the South region in Busan – in 2017. Seoul now has three Availability Zones, while Busan launched its second data center in November 2024. AWS launched its Seoul Region in 2016 and expanded the region with a third Availability Zone in 2019 and a fourth in 2020. Google launched a South Korean region in 2020.
