Alibaba Cloud expands global footprint with new AI tools
Thu, 1st Oct 2026 (Today)
Alibaba Cloud has outlined a global infrastructure expansion and introduced three new artificial intelligence products, including new cloud regions in Türkiye, Finland and the Netherlands.
The expansion also adds data centre capacity in Malaysia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, France and Hong Kong. Alibaba Cloud currently operates 107 availability zones across 31 regions.
The announcement comes as cloud providers and their customers seek more localised computing resources to run AI workloads and meet regional requirements. For Alibaba Cloud, the move extends its presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia as competition in cloud and AI services intensifies.
Alongside the infrastructure plan, Alibaba Cloud introduced Smart Studio, Smart Fusion and Smart Video for international businesses building AI applications and services.
Smart Studio lets businesses set up branded model-as-a-service platforms, with tools for packaging, pricing, metering and billing model application programming interfaces. The product can be deployed in minutes, according to Alibaba Cloud.
Smart Fusion is designed to manage multiple AI models through a single application programming interface. It selects models for each task in real time and can cut token spending by about 50%, Alibaba Cloud said.
Smart Video is aimed at short-drama studios and advertisers. According to Alibaba Cloud, it can create videos of up to one hour from a single prompt and supports more than 20 languages.
Customer deals
Alibaba Cloud also disclosed a series of customer and partner agreements across manufacturing, gaming, logistics, entertainment, software and digital commerce.
Panasonic Digital is using Alibaba Cloud's Bailian Model Studio and data tools including DataWorks, MaxCompute and Hologres to build what Alibaba Cloud described as a custom capability hub. The system supports AI agents for manufacturing, supply chain and corporate functions.
Unity China is using Model Studio to deploy Qwen and third-party foundation models for Tuanjie AI-Codely, its engineering platform. Alibaba Cloud said the system automates software development tasks including code comprehension, editing and debugging.
In logistics, Indonesia's Lion Parcel has deployed the Qwen-VL-Plus model through Model Studio to automate finance and document-processing workflows. The aim is to reduce manual transcription and improve data accuracy while building a central digital repository, the company said.
Loomi Entertainment Group in Malaysia has integrated Alibaba's visual generation models, including Wan and HappyHorse, into its cinematic AI engine, Imaginary. Alibaba Cloud said the companies have also run two AI-generated content hackathons and trained more than 100 content creators through workshops.
SHAKE, which focuses on agentic resource planning for small and medium-sized businesses, is using Alibaba Cloud's computing resources and Qwen models to build its own AI model for services across Asia-Pacific markets. Its services will also be listed on Alibaba Cloud's marketplace, according to the company.
AnyMind Group has also agreed to integrate Qwen into AnyLive, its AI-based live commerce platform. The change is intended to improve how the platform understands customer questions and responds in real time, the company said.
AI strategy
The broader push reflects Alibaba Cloud's effort to deepen ties with corporate users seeking practical uses of generative AI beyond experimentation. Rather than focusing only on foundation models, the company is adding tools for deployment, orchestration and industry-specific applications.
That approach mirrors a wider market shift, with demand moving from access to large models towards software and infrastructure that can manage cost, latency and compliance. Regional data centre coverage has become part of that pitch, especially for customers operating across multiple jurisdictions.
Dr. Feifei Li, Chief Technology Officer and President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said the company is seeing rising demand for infrastructure and easier-to-use AI tools as businesses move from trials to production deployments.
"As Alibaba Cloud has advanced from AI-native infrastructure to an Agent-Native Cloud architecture, AI is also moving rapidly from experimentation to real-world deployment, creating demand for both scalable infrastructure and more accessible AI capabilities," Li said.
"We are expanding our global cloud footprint to bring computing resources closer to customers and partners, while continuing to evolve our AI technologies to help enterprises deploy models, optimize multi-model workloads and create new AI-powered applications. At the same time, our growing ecosystem of customers and partners demonstrates how these capabilities can translate into tangible business value across industries and markets. We are committed to working closely with our global ecosystem to make AI more scalable, practical and accessible for businesses."