Amazon expanding cloud services in China to meet booming demand

Amazon plans to beef up its cloud services in China this year for multinational and domestic companies looking to expand overseas, the technology giant announced on Friday.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will expand in western China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region by 130 percent. It will also open a third availability zone in Beijing to expand capacity, according to officials at Amazon, the world’s biggest public cloud service provider. 

The company currently has AWS regions with data centers in Ningxia, Beijing and Hong Kong. China is the only country outside of the United States with three AWS regions. 

AWS has three major businesses in China — domestic firms, multinational companies and Chinese firms expanding into overseas markets, said Elaine Chang, Amazon’s vice president who oversees AWS. 

The company will also strengthen local talent training to promote industry transformation and boost the development of the digital economy, said Chang.

Fueled by government support and the country's digital transformation, cloud investment has surged in China. In the fourth quarter, China cloud infrastructure spending grew 62 percent to a record US$5.8 billion, according to research firm Canalys.

By 2025, Amazon plans to offer free cloud training for 29 million people worldwide, including many people in China. Meanwhile, Amazon has set up an artificial intelligence research center in Shanghai. 

Amazon also announced it will provide global cloud services for Chinese tech firm Huami — a wearable computing device vendor with operations in 70 countries and regions.