Alibaba defends cloud leadership

China’s industrial policy as well as the COVID-19 pandemic have driven up demand for cloud services in China. In 2017, Beijing proposed that one million companies should “go cloud”. In 2020, the Chinese government spent close to 5 billion CNY on cloud services. Only local companies can own and operate cloud infrastructure in the country, and services provided by foreign brands are increasingly marginalized in light of increasing geopolitical tensions.

Last updated: 24. July 2025