The investment follows similar expansion efforts by other Chinese Internet giants – Alibaba and Baidu – as they prepare to take on world leaders Microsoft and Amazon in cloud computing
Tencent has revealed it will invest RMB10 billion (US$1.57 billion) over the next five years to boost a multi-national cloud computing operation across the US, Hong Kong and China.
The online social and gaming giant is looking to boost its presence in the cloud computing field as other Internet giants – Alibaba and Baidu – are also expanding. Tencent entered a memorandum of understanding with IBM in November last year to extend its presence in corporate cloud computing.
Alibaba’s cloud computing department, Aliyun, has also aggressively expanded its operation outside of China. In March, it launched its first US-based data centre in Silicon Valley. Last month, it launched a strategic centre in Singapore. At the time, Ethan Yu, VP of Aliyun told CNBC that the company is looking to make the Singapore centre the biggest outside of China.
In December last year, one of China’s oldest software companies, Kingsoft, announced a US$1 billion investment in extending cloud services over the next five years.
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The expansion into overseas markets by some of China’s biggest players signals their readiness to take on world leaders Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services in cloud computing. Both foreign companies have already established a presence in China, with Microsoft launching a new entity, Microsoft Asia-Pacific Technology Company Ltd, to take over management of local cloud operations.
Smaller companies are also gaining momentum in China, putting pressure on the Internet giants in their own market. Qiniu, a cloud service provider established by former Kingsoft researchers sealed an undisclosed investment from a series of prominent investors last month, while UCloud, founded by ex-Tencent executives, landed a US$100 million Series C led by Legend Capital in April.
While Tencent’s recent cloud service expansion has focussed on the more profitable commercial sector, it has also made forays into the consumer cloud space. In January this year it launched a highly modified version of the original ‘Micro Cloud’ (Weiyun) personal cloud storage platform.
The company has since integrated the service into its existing social platform and other QQ operations.
The article Tencent to pump US$1.57 billion into international cloud computing effort first appeared on TechNode.
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