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Alibaba Cloud Celebrates 10 Years in Singapore with New Data Centers and AI Global Competency Center
- New data centers in Malaysia and the Philippines to meet growing demand for AI and cloud services
- New center in Singapore designed to support over 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers to accelerate enterprise AI innovation and talent development globally
- Driving AI innovation with product upgrades and global green AI research
- Business showcases for Qwen, Alibaba’s large language model, across Asia and the Middle East
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 2 July 2025 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today marked a decade of operations in Singapore and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of its international headquarters in the country. To commemorate this milestone, it unveiled new infrastructure investments, a new AI competency center, advanced cloud and AI technologies, and global research findings on green AI adoption at its Global Summit, underscoring its ongoing commitment to advancing AI innovation.
Held in Singapore, the Alibaba Cloud Global Summit gathered over 500 leaders from business, technology, and the public sector worldwide to explore the future of AI, cloud computing, and sustainable digital transformation. The event also reaffirmed Singapore’s position as a strategic hub and international headquarters for Alibaba Cloud’s long-term growth in Asia-Pacific and beyond.
Selina Yuan, President of International Business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said,
“Over the past decade, Singapore has been both an innovation center and a gateway to the region’s digital economy. As we celebrate this important milestone, we reaffirm our commitment to empowering businesses of all sizes and verticals while advancing cutting-edge AI innovations and driving sustainable digital transformation in Singapore for years to come. Together with our partners and customers, we look forward to shaping Singapore’s future as a global leader in AI and cloud innovation.”
New Data Centers in Malaysia and the Philippines
To meet the growing demand for cloud and AI services across Southeast Asia, Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of its third data center in Malaysia on July 1, 2025. It also plans to open its second data center in the Philippines in October 2025.
Those expansions build on earlier infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea, announced in the first half of 2025. This growing network ensures that Alibaba Cloud can meet the rising global demand for secure, resilient and scalable cloud services, empowering businesses, developers, and organizations to innovate and scale with confidence as AI adoption accelerates across industries.
Launch of AI Global Competency Center to Power Enterprise Innovation
During the event, Alibaba Cloud launched its first AI Global Competency Center (AIGCC) in Singapore. The move aims to accelerate AI adoption by supporting enterprises of all sizes, from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large-scale organizations, while also addressing the growing global demand for AI talent.
The center is designed to support over 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers, offering access to advanced AI models and powerful computing resources to accelerate experimentation and deployment. Developers and businesses will benefit from the AI Innovation Lab, which offers token credits, curated datasets and personalized support tailored to real-world scenarios and industry needs.
As a collaborative innovation hub, the AIGCC aims to bring together more than 1,000 companies and startups to co-develop next-generation AI solutions, fostering an ecosystem of applied innovation. The center will also introduce over 10 AI agents across key industries – including finance, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail and energy – demonstrating AI’s potential across different verticals.
To build a robust AI talent pipeline, Alibaba Cloud will partner with more than 120 universities and institutions globally, with the goal of training 100,000 AI professionals annually.
New Cloud Products for Global AI Development
Alibaba Cloud announced new offerings to international customers by upgrading Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) products and introducing new AI tools. Alibaba Cloud Data Transmission Service (DTS), a real-time data streaming service, introduced a new “One Channel For AI” capability to streamline multimodal data preparation. This feature establishes an end-to-end pipeline that automatically converts both unstructured and structured data—including documents, images, tables, audio, and video—into vector databases, enabling developers to create real-time knowledge bases and create Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications with just few clicks. By automating the vectorization workflow, the upgraded DTS lowers technical barriers, enabling businesses to deploy LLM-powered applications faster and more efficiently.
Alibaba Cloud’s Platform for AI (PAI) has enhanced its high-performance AI inference capabilities to better support complex models like Mixture of Experts (MoE) and large-scale deployments with two key improvements in its PAI-Elastic Algorithm Service (EAS). For MoE architectures, PAI-EAS now features Expert Parallel (EP), an advanced optimization that works with a prefill-decode disaggregation framework to boost efficiency. This combination significantly increases inference efficiency, enabling higher throughput for LLMs while optimizing resource utilization. For example, the EP distributed deployment for Qwen3 235B achieves a TPS (Tokens Per Second) performance exceeding 15k, while maintaining an average per-token latency of under 50 milliseconds.
PAI-EAS also tackles slow cold starts and inefficient scaling with its new Model Weights Service, which dramatically reduces loading times. This makes it possible to spin up instances in seconds, rather than minutes. Tests with Qwen3-8B show 89.8% faster cold starts and 97.6% quicker scaling, while Qwen3-32B achieves 91.4% faster cold starts and near-instant scaling.
In response to customer demand, the company also revealed that its 9th Generation intel-based Enterprise Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance will be available across additional global markets from July, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and the UK. Since its launch in April, nearly 10,000 businesses have adopted the upgraded instance, leveraging its industry-leading performance. This latest generation delivers 20% greater computing efficiency compared to previous iterations. By integrating elastic Remote Direct Memory Access (eRDMA) technology for ultra-fast networking, it achieves up to 50% performance gains in high-performance computing (HPC), search recommendations, and Redis database workloads.
Alibaba Cloud’s sustainability platform, Energy Expert, introduced a cutting-edge AI-driven ESG Reporting solution, empowering organizations to navigate the complexities of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures with precision and ease. Powered by Alibaba’s proprietary AI model Qwen, the innovative solution streamlines report generation through AI-powered tools – such as guided structuring, automated content creation and actionable insights – while enabling seamless collaboration via real-time task management and progress tracking.
Designed to align with global standards— including the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)—the platform ensures compliance, reduces operational costs, and strengthens audit readiness through traceable data lineage and centralized record-keeping.
New Global Study Reveals Growing Awareness of Green AI and Adoption Challenges
Also unveiled at the Global Summit were findings from a global study on the development and adoption of artificial intelligence systems that minimize energy consumption and environmental impact, known as green AI. The study was conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Alibaba in collaboration with Alibaba-NTU Global e-Sustainability CorpLab (ANGEL). Surveying over 464 business and IT leaders worldwide, including Singapore, the study reveals the growing recognition of the importance of green AI, but also highlights a significant gap between vision and execution.
The study found that while 84% of leaders who have implemented an AI sustainability vision consider green AI to be important, 69% of organizations globally are still at the beginner stage of AI adoption. Many cited persistent technical challenges as key barriers to progress – among them, the lack of sustainably sourced materials for AI hardware (80%) and the difficulty of optimizing data center energy usage (73%).
Beyond the technical hurdles, the survey also revealed widespread capability gaps. A significant number of decision-makers indicated they lacked the knowledge to define a clear green AI strategy (74%), as well as the skills needed to implement and operate it (76%).
Considering those challenges, the study recommends several key strategies to drive wider adoption of Green AI, including powering data centers with renewable energy, deploying edge computing with optimized smaller models to reduce data center loads, and developing applications with code that requires less computational power. It also highlights the importance of increased collaboration between public and private sectors on regulation and standards and leveraging open-source models to minimize pre-training and energy consumption.
International Customers Leveraging Cloud and Qwen for AI Innovation
To help drive digital transformation and accelerate AI innovation initiatives, an increasing number of international customers have selected Alibaba Cloud as its digital solutions provider for its trusted cloud computing capabilities and advanced AI technologies.
After successfully migrating GoTo Financial’s infrastructure to Alibaba Cloud, GoTo Group, the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia, has now migrated its core business intelligence data platform to Alibaba Cloud’s MaxCompute to boost operational agility and drive cost efficiency. With MaxCompute’s fully managed architecture and automation, Alibaba Cloud delivered a seamless, six-month migration with tens of petabytes of data across GoTo’s complex system, achieving zero downtime and uninterrupted business continuity for GoTo Group throughout the process.
William Xiong, Group Chief Technology Officer of GoTo Group, said during the summit, “The migration to Alibaba Cloud’s MaxCompute has enhanced the scalability and resilience of our data platform. By delivering cost efficiency, performance parity, and operational continuity, this collaboration strengthens the technical foundation for GoTo’s ecosystem. This partnership positions us to drive innovation and deliver transformative solutions for millions of users across the ecosystem, while staying aligned with Indonesia’s data sovereignty goals.”
To enhance data management efficiency, GoTo Financial has migrated its lending workload to Alibaba Cloud’s database solutions. By leveraging cloud-native database PolarDB and in-memory database Tair, GoTo Financial’s lending systems now deliver high performance and ultra-low latency, seamlessly supporting over 500 microservices.
Many customers have also leveraged Alibaba Cloud’s flagship large language model, Qwen, to deliver innovative solutions, thanks to its robust multilingual capabilities. Qwen 3, the latest iteration of the Qwen family, supports 119 languages and has demonstrated exceptional performance in multilingual mathematical reasoning and translation, particularly in Asian languages, according to public datasets.
VisionTech, a generative AI company focused on boosting sales, enhancing customer experiences, and addressing manpower challenges in Singapore, tapped into Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure and AI technologies to fuel its business growth across Southeast Asia. With Alibaba Cloud’s services, including Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and a strong regional presence, VisionTech reduced infrastructure costs by over 25%, improved support turnaround times, and accelerated AI deployment for enterprises and SMEs. VisionTech is also incorporating Qwen, Alibaba’s flagship large language model, as one of its core large language models (LLMs) to power its solutions, enhancing its AI bots’ ability to seamlessly manage multilingual interactions.
“Our partnership with Alibaba Cloud allows us to deliver smarter, scalable, and enterprise-ready AI solutions while maintaining operational efficiency and customer satisfaction,” said Lim Hui Jie, CEO of VisionTech. “Qwen’s strong performance in handling multilingual conversational inputs and real-time translation gives us a distinct edge over other LLMs, enabling us to fast-track deployments and improve user engagement— whether it’s English, Chinese, Malay, or Japanese. By dynamically switching languages in real-time, our AI bots create a seamless experience that resonates with users in various markets, ensuring that our solutions feel native and culturally aligned.”
FLUX, a leading Japanese technology solution provider, partnered with Alibaba Cloud to accelerate AI adoption in Japan. Through this collaboration, FLUX will introduce Qwen—Alibaba’s family of large language models (LLMs)—in various sizes to Japanese enterprises, enabling GenAI integration into their critical workflows. Additionally, FLUX will leverage Qwen to develop FLUX LLM solution, a customized AI solution designed to help Japanese businesses of all sizes optimize operations and enhance service capabilities.
Alibaba Cloud and Al-Futtaim, a Dubai-based, 90-year-old, privately held and diversified business group – recognized as one of the region’s most progressive enterprises operating across 18 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia – have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate Al-Futtaim’s digital transformation and global innovation agenda.
Under the agreement, Al-Futtaim will access Alibaba Cloud’s advanced AI capabilities, including proprietary foundation models and open-source frameworks to drive AI-powered innovation across its business units. The collaboration will also enable Al-Futtaim to leverage Alibaba’s global cloud infrastructure, broad digital ecosystem, and industry expertise to support its expansion into key international markets and scale transformative outcomes across sectors.
Hashtag: #AlibabaCloud
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About Alibaba Cloud
Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) services. Alibaba has been named the leading IaaS provider in Asia Pacific by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner. It has also maintained its position as one of the world’s leading public cloud IaaS service providers since 2018, according to IDC.
About the Green AI Survey
Commissioned By Alibaba and developed in collaboration with Alibaba-NTU Global e-Sustainability CorpLab (ANGEL), Forrester conducted an online survey of 464 business and IT decision-makers from high-tech companies and the public sector with responsibility over their organization’s green AI strategy to evaluate the market’s current knowledge and adoption of green AI. It collected feedback in April 2025 on green AI adoption, challenges and future plans from C-level executives, vice presidents, directors, and managers (or the equivalent of).
Respondents were located across 11 markets in Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea), Europe (France, Germany, and United Kingdom), Latin America (Mexico and Brazil), and North America (The United States).
CUHK’s Academic Excellence and Global Research Impact
CUHK’s academic rigour is further recognised in the 2026–27 Best Global Universities Rankings by U.S. News & World Report, where it ranks 28th globally and 5th in Asia, remaining Hong Kong’s top university for the fourth consecutive year. The University features 15 subjects in the global top 50, including five in the top 10, such as Education and Educational Research (#1), Gastroenterology and Hepatology (#2), Computer Science (#7), and Arts and Humanities and Artificial Intelligence (both ranked #9).
CUHK: Where Bold Ideas Become Impactful Research
CUHK provides an exceptional environment for impactful research, supported by approximately 300 research institutes and centres, alongside four state key laboratories approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Reflecting on the academic environment, Zhamilya Zhirenova, a PhD student in Biomedical Science from Kazakhstan, has deepened her expertise through her involvement with the Centre for Neuromusculoskeletal Restorative Medicine (CNRM), an InnoHK research centre CUHK established with Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet.
Unlike traditional research pathways, where students are often confined to a single university laboratory, Zhamilya gained extensive experience at Hong Kong Science Park, a dynamic setting that closely resembles industry. “It feels more like an industrial company,” she reflected, “and that experience has been invaluable.” For researchers with ambitions beyond academia, such early exposure to the pace and expectations of the biotech industry provides a distinct advantage.
Nurturing the Next Generation of Scientific Innovators
Many of CUHK’s scholars are globally renowned experts who have made significant breakthroughs in their respective fields. These experts provide valuable mentorship, cultivating an intellectually stimulating environment for innovative research.
At the Centre for Novostics, an InnoHK research centre dedicated to advancing molecular diagnostics, Yasine Malki, a Chemical Pathology PhD student from Hong Kong, highlighted mentorship as a defining aspect of his experience at CUHK. Benefiting from the mentorship of Professor Dennis Lo, CUHK’s Vice-Chancellor and President, and a pioneer in molecular diagnostics, Yasine collaborates with specialists in molecular technologies, bioinformatics, and clinician-scientists, exemplifying CUHK’s dynamic, multidisciplinary approach to medical science.
Through the latest global rankings, CUHK continues to demonstrate the impact of its research and scholarship. The University offers robust financial support to attract top-tier global talent, such as the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) for the 2027–28 intake, which provides over HK$1.81 million (approximately US$232,420) in funding. Applications open on 1 September 2026.
Hashtag: #CUHK
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About CUHK
Founded in 1963, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a leading comprehensive research university with a global reputation and world-leading rankings. Located in the heart of Asia, CUHK has a vision and a mission to combine tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West. The University has eight faculties: Arts, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Science, and Social Science. Together with the Graduate School, the University offers over 300 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. All faculties are actively engaged in research in a wide range of disciplines, with an array of research institutes and research centres specialising in interdisciplinary research of the highest quality.
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HKDL’s Immersive Interactive Experiences Win Guests’ Hearts Lucky Nugget Spin at Grizzly Gulch Surpasses 30,000 Participations
Immersive experiences fuel collectible merchandise craze and extend magical memories
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 11 July 2026 – In tune with the growing popularity of experiential travel and guests’ desire for participation and immersive experiences throughout their journeys, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) has been integrating retail with storytelling at the park through an endless flow of innovative interactive experiences and distinctive merchandise offerings. Emotional connections with guests are strengthened as merchandise is transformed into meaningful souvenirs interwoven with their Disney memories.
Launched in April this year at Grizzly Gulch, the Chip ‘n’ Dale Lucky Nugget Spin has recorded more than 30,000 participations as of the end of June, becoming one of the park’s most popular activities. Combining storytelling, live interactions, and surprises, the experience has been warmly received by guests and has further enhanced the atmosphere throughout the land.
David Koo, director of merchandise at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, shared: ‘Today’s guests are looking for more than products; they want keepsakes that capture the stories and memories of their visit. Through interactive experiences, we hope to make merchandise a natural extension of the Disney park journey. Whether it is a plush toy, a pin or an accessory, the true value lies not only in the item itself, but in the magical moments and personal memories it represents.’
David Koo, director of merchandise at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, is pictured in the center
This story- and interaction-driven strategy has been incorporated into various guest experiences across the resort. For example, in an engaging experience at the Popcorn Pop-Up Shop on Main Street, U.S.A., guests can reach into a giant popcorn bucket-themed installation to catch a “popcorn” and reveal the hidden Pixar pals plushie together with Disney cast members on the spot. Meanwhile, the Snow White Grotto, located beside the Castle of Magical Dreams, has introduced a new “Lock of Dreams” experience, offering guests a sense of ceremony and a souvenir to cherish.
Disney’s Classic Pin Trading Tradition Extends the Magic Beyond the Visit
Disney’s iconic Pin Trading tradition has long been an important part of how guests explore the park and connect with others. Reopened in June, Main Street Collectibles now features dedicated pin display areas designed to celebrate and elevate this beloved tradition. Guests can discover unexpected treasures while searching for favorite designs as they trade pins with Disney cast members and fellow collectors. More than just an addition to a collection, each pin carries unique memories and extends the guest journey.
More Than 3.5 Million 20th Anniversary Merchandise Items Snapped up
New Pixar and Marvel Experiences on the Way
Merchandise sales grew continuously during Hong Kong Disneyland’s 20th anniversary celebrations, which attracted a large number of local, mainland, and international visitors and concluded with fanfare in June. Since late June last year, the resort has sold more than 3.5 million 20th Anniversary-themed merchandise. Among them, about 600,000 units of the SouvenEARS collection have been snapped up. Meanwhile, the blind-box series inspired by attractions and themed lands achieved sales of more than 500,000 units during fiscal year 2025, demonstrating the continued popularity of merchandise with strong storytelling elements and collectible appeal.
Looking ahead, HKDL will continue to enrich the guest experience across the resort. New Pixar-themed and Marvel-themed experiences will be introduced, further expanding both entertainment and retail offerings. Through ongoing innovation, HKDL remains committed to meeting guests’ demand for more immersive experiences, enhancing its appeal to local, mainland, and international visitors, and strengthening its position as a leading travel destination in the region.
Hashtag: #HongKongDisneylandResort
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The HR Asia Awards are among Asia’s most prestigious annual human resources awards, recognizing organizations that demonstrate excellence in workplace culture and sustainable people development. Winners are evaluated using the TEAM (Total Engagement Assessment Model), which measures employee engagement, organizational trust, and workplace experience, drawing on benchmarking data from more than 2.5 million employees across 20,000 organizations throughout the region.
According to the independent assessment conducted for the HR Asia Awards 2026, Green SM significantly outperformed market benchmarks in the “Best Companies to Work for in Asia” category, achieving outstanding scores across several key dimensions, including technology enablement in the workplace (4.8/5), workplace sustainability (4.71/5), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (4.72/5).
A defining element of Green SM’s workplace culture is its unwavering commitment to the principle that “Every Voice Counts.” This commitment is embedded through comprehensive employee engagement initiatives, including regular internal surveys, 360-degree performance evaluations, and multiple feedback channels that transform employee insights into tangible improvements in policies, workplace practices, and operational excellence.
At Green SM, talent development is viewed not merely as an HR function but as a strategic driver of service excellence. The Company continues to invest comprehensively in recruitment, professional training, operational standardization, workplace culture, and structured career development pathways for its Green Drivers. In parallel, Green SM delivers continuous capability-building programs for managers and employees, combining practical learning with digital learning platforms to strengthen leadership and management capabilities and organizational agility in an evolving business environment.
Alongside its investment in people, Green SM has been progressively building a unified organizational culture across its international markets. Rooted in values established in Vietnam while embracing the diversity of local cultures and communities, the Company fosters an environment that encourages collaboration, continuous learning, and empowerment. This enables teams across different countries to uphold consistent service standards while remaining responsive to the unique needs of local customers and communities.
Green SM also received the Technology Empowerment Awards in recognition of its continued digital transformation in human resource management. Through the digitalization of HR processes, the development of competency frameworks, the expansion of digital learning ecosystems, and the integration of data-driven people management, the Company has streamlined repetitive administrative tasks, enhanced decision-making efficiency, and enabled employees to devote greater focus to innovation, customer experience, and superior service delivery.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan, Global Chief Executive Officer of Green SM, said: “Our people have always been the cornerstone of Green SM’s sustainable growth. We believe that when individuals are empowered by technology and united by shared values, our teams across every market can deliver exceptional experiences for our customers. These two awards affirm the direction we have taken and further strengthen our commitment to building a truly multinational organization with its roots in Vietnam.”
In 2026, Green SM aims to expand its global workforce and partner network to approximately 400,000 people worldwide. As the Company continues to accelerate its international expansion, it will further invest in talent development and technology-driven people management to build a highly capable global workforce, maintain consistent service excellence across markets, and advance its vision of becoming the world’s leading green mobility platform.
Hashtag: #GreenSM
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