Amazon Web Services to further tap cloud biz in Chinese market

Amazon Web Services, the cloud service platform of US technology giant Amazon, is banking on the burgeoning cloud computing market in China and ramping up efforts to offer more cloud services to help Chinese enterprises in digital transformation.

China is and will continue to be, one of Amazon Web Services' most strategically important markets, said Elaine Chang, corporate vice-president and managing director of AWS China.

AWS has been increasing its investment in the Chinese market to build an innovation engine for bolstering the digital transformation in various industries and fueling the rapid development of China's digital economy, Chang said.

The new features and services landed in AWS China Regions grew by 50 percent year-on-year in the first half, the company said.

"The digital wave has swept through all industries, both in China and globally, and cloud computing is a key element of digital transformation. We help Chinese enterprises accelerate innovation, reinvent businesses and build smart industries by introducing leading global technology and practical experience," Chang said.

With its global infrastructure, industry-leading security expertise and compliance practice, AWS helps Chinese companies gain access to best-in-class technologies and services in overseas markets to enhance their competitiveness and accelerate globalization.

AWS came to China in 2013, and has since been investing and expanding its infrastructure and business. It launched AWS China (Beijing) Region, operated by Beijing Sinnet Technology Co Ltd, in 2016, and AWS China (Ningxia) Region, operated by Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology Co Ltd, in 2017.

The company has increased its investment in China this year, such as expanding its Ningxia Region by adding 130 percent more computing capacity compared to the first phase, and adding a third availability zone in the Beijing Region.

China's overall cloud computing market increased 56.6 percent to 209.1 billion yuan ($32.9 billion) last year, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. The market is expected to grow rapidly in the next three years and reach nearly 400 billion yuan by 2023.

In addition, AWS has upgraded its strategic collaboration with auditing firm Deloitte in China. The two companies plan to carry out close collaboration in four vertical industries, including auto, healthcare and life science, retail and financial services.

"As one of the leaders in the global public cloud market, the acceleration of AWS in cloud services in China will effectively provide more competitive options for enterprises in China and worldwide to modernize applications and drive digital transformation," said Charlie Dai, a principal analyst at Forrester, a business strategy and economic consultancy.

At present, the scale of the cloud computing industry is growing rapidly, and competition in the domestic market is becoming more intense.

Cloud infrastructure services expenditure in China grew 43 year-on-year in the third quarter to $7.2 billion, said a report from Canalys, a global technology market analysis company.

Alibaba Cloud remained the market leader with a 38.3 percent share of total cloud infrastructure spending in China, while Huawei Cloud was the second largest provider, with a 17 percent market share. Tencent Cloud and Baidu AI Cloud ranked third and fourth, respectively.

The report noted that AWS and Microsoft Azure have both announced their intention to expand their presence in China through existing partnerships with local companies.

Chen Jiachun, an official from the information and communications development department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said cloud computing services have expanded from e-commerce, government affairs and finance to manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture and other fields.

"Cloud computing is promoting more enterprises to step up digital transformation. It has gradually become an important engine driving the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and empowering China's digital economy," Chen said.

Li Wei, deputy director of the Cloud Computing and Big Data Research Institute under CAICT, said the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of cloud services and cloud computing applications, which has played a vital role in bolstering the development of the digital economy.