Alibaba Cloud is accelerating the expansion of its AI infrastructure in South Korea with the launch of its third data center, responding to the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) in the country. The company aims to enhance its presence in the domestic AI cloud market by offering an 'end-to-end AI full stack' that encompasses infrastructure, proprietary AI models, platforms, and applications.
Yoon Yong-jun, head of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in South Korea, stated at a press conference on August 18 at the Chosun Palace in Gangnam, Seoul, "South Korea has a higher demand for digital and AI-related infrastructure than any other country. We will continue to expand our investments in AI-related infrastructure to reflect this market demand." According to the company, the third data center in the South Korean region is currently operational in an undisclosed location in Seoul.
Since entering the South Korean market in 2016, Alibaba Cloud opened its first data center in 2022, followed by a second one in 2025. The launch of the third data center this year marks a significant acceleration in the expansion of cloud infrastructure in the country.
This expansion is part of Alibaba Group's $53 billion (approximately 75 trillion won) cloud and AI investment plan announced last year. Yoon noted, "We made proactive investments considering the anticipated increase in AI demand over the next 12 months." This initiative aims to enhance service stability and availability while strengthening the foundation for AI business and partner ecosystems.
With the operation of the third data center, the service level agreement (SLA) for the South Korean region has increased from 99.95% to 99.99%. Yoon explained, "Even if one data center experiences an outage, the other two can continue to operate services, and the increased number of access points has strengthened the low-latency network environment."
He also emphasized that customer data stored in the South Korean region will not be moved outside the region without customer consent. The company maintains its Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification obtained in 2023.
However, Alibaba Cloud did not disclose specific details about the location, power capacity, or operational rates of the third data center, citing security reasons that typically prevent global cloud service providers from revealing such information during the initial operation phase.
With the opening of the third data center, Alibaba Cloud has added support services for AI agent development and operation, including AgentRun and ACS Agent Sandbox, to the South Korean region.
In the AI market, the company is promoting its differentiated strategy of an 'end-to-end AI full stack' that includes infrastructure, its own foundation model Qwen, model development and utilization platforms, AI agents, and applications.
Price competitiveness and a variety of AI models are also highlighted as strengths. The company offers models that can operate with minimal GPU resources, allowing customers to choose according to their needs. Yoon stated, "Not all customers need large models; we provide over 200 open-source models specialized for various use cases."
Based on this, the company is also strengthening support for small and medium-sized enterprises and startups. Yoon emphasized, "Alibaba's founding philosophy of supporting small businesses in China to secure overseas markets is reflected in our AI strategy, aiming to lower the barriers for AI adoption for price-sensitive SMEs and startups."
Looking ahead, Alibaba Cloud plans to broaden its customer base in industries with AI demand, such as finance, while leveraging its infrastructure and business foundation established in China and Asia to support South Korean companies in entering local markets.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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