Alibaba Cloud has launched a new cloud region based in Johor, Malaysia.

The cloud region is housed in two data centers and brings Alibaba Cloud's global footprint to 104 availability zones and 32 regions.

It is Alibaba's second cloud region in Malaysia. The company launched a region in Kuala Lumpur in October 2017, at the time making it the first global public cloud platform to host infrastructure in the country.

That region has three availability zones, with the third data center coming online in June 2025.

“The addition of Alibaba Cloud’s new data centers in Johor further strengthens Malaysia’s position as a key destination for AI-ready infrastructure and high-value digital investments. This expansion aligns with Malaysia’s cloud-first and AI-driven national agenda, propelling us closer to realizing our vision of becoming an AI Nation by 2030 through secure, scalable, and future-ready digital infrastructure that enables both industry innovation and public sector transformation,” said YB Gobind Singh Deo, Malaysia's Minister of Digital.

"Malaysia remains a strategic key market for us in Southeast Asia, and we are deeply committed to empowering enterprises of all sizes on their cloud and AI journey with our robust and secure cloud and AI technologies,” added Choong Hon Keat, general manager of Malaysia, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “This expansion in Malaysia is a direct response to surging customer demand as local businesses scale cloud-native operations and integrate AI at scale. Our new data centers in Johor will enable us to deliver more resilient, low-latency services, helping companies innovate faster, scale securely, and operate with greater efficiency in the AI era.”

Information about the data centers in question was not provided.

Alibaba's global buildout is part of a significant capex commitment. CEO Eddie Wu confirmed in June 2025 that the company intends to spend around $52.7 billion in establishing a "unified global cloud network," with the company later considering increasing this to $69bn.

During the company's most recent earnings call, CEO Eddie Wu commented on the company's buildout: "Essentially, I think if you compare where things were in the year 2022 before this explosive growth in AI models and what we expect to need in 2033, I think we're talking about a ten times increase. We need ten times the amount of data center infrastructure compared to what we had in 2022."

With this in mind, Alibaba has been rapidly expanding its global capacity. A second data center in Dubai was launched in October 2025, and last year also saw the launch of a second data center in South Korea in June 2025. Other locations include a new region in Mexico and a second data center in Thailand.