Chinese cloud firm Alibaba plans to expand its footprint to Mexico, in addition to adding more cloud regions across the APAC markets.

Alibaba Cloud (aka Aliyun) this week announced plans to launch its first cloud region in Mexico.

Details on location or timelines were not shared.

"With the rapidly rising demand for AI across industries, we are reinforcing our commitment to expanding our AI infrastructure and enhancing our cloud capacities worldwide," said Selina Yuan, president of international business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, during the Alibaba Cloud Global Summit in Paris.

"Meanwhile, our digital talent initiatives, in collaboration with global universities and local partners in our key markets, will further equip the upcoming generation with the requisite AI skills."

Microsoft, Oracle, and Huawei already have live cloud regions in Mexico – spread across Querétaro, Mexico City, and Monterrey. Earlier this year, AWS announced plans to open a Mexican cloud region, with Google also expected to open a cloud region soon in Queretaro. AWS already has two Edge locations in the Queretaro area.

Alibaba currently operates 16 cloud regions with 33 availability zones outside of mainland China.

The company said it will also establish additional data centers in existing markets including Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea in the next three years. Again, further details weren’t shared.

After launching its first in 2018 and second in 2019, the company announced plans to launch a third Indonesian data center back in 2020.

The company unveiled facilities in Bangkok, Thailand, and Seoul, South Korea in 2022; launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017, and has two regions there today; and opened a Philippines data center in Manila in 2021.

In mainland China, Alibaba has 14 cloud regions and 56 availability zones.

The company also said its generative AI development platform, Model Studio, will soon be available for international customers via its availability zones in Singapore.