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| Microsoft wants to use cloud demand in China |
With the demand for cloud computing services growing in Asia, Microsoft plans to add four new data centers in China by early 2022 to expand its services capabilities in Asia.
Microsoft's expansion in China is the company's fastest growing on the African continent. The software giant has six data centers in the country.
In March of this year, the company announced that it would add a new Azure region to its data center network in northern China.
It is now trying to take advantage of the increasing global demand for internet services during the pandemic. Like existing data centers, these new facilities will be operated by local partner 21Vianet.
Microsoft said in a blog post in March that it expects its upcoming expansion to double the capacity of its smart cloud wallet in China.
The company's cloud products in China include Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform operated by 21Vianet.
China's cloud computing market is expected to reach $46 billion by 2023, according to a report by the State Council of the China Development Research Center (DRC).
New regulations are causing domestic and foreign companies to turn to local data management and increase their IT spending.
By expanding its service capabilities over the next few years, Microsoft hopes to capitalize on this trend to compete with native cloud service providers such as Alibaba.
Chinese companies that have made slow progress in digitization in recent years and are now migrating to the cloud have contributed to this rapid growth.
Microsoft Cloud Platform:
Microsoft has been working with 21Vianet for nearly ten years. As a result, the two companies launched the Microsoft cloud platform in two major regions in 2014.
Azure is the first international public cloud service to be made publicly available for the Chinese market via local operating partners.
Microsoft CEO Greater China has shared more information about how the company's new Azure region in northern China will provide more opportunities for Chinese companies.
“The upcoming regions are strengthening their capabilities to nurture local talent, stimulate local innovation, develop a local technology ecosystem, and make companies from all walks of life more successful,” he said.
Although China's digital transformation efforts have been slow in the past, the outbreak has prompted 63% of companies in the country to adopt cloud-related innovations in their products, payments, e-commerce, and automation.
In addition, Microsoft can count on the maturity and universality of its cloud services.
With Azure products, companies can host data and run applications in the cloud. Office 365 provides an online version of the familiar word processing, spreadsheet, and collaboration software.
Additionally, the company's commercial cloud revenue grew 33% to $17.7 billion in the first quarter.