AliCloud, the cloud computing business of Alibaba Group, said today that it has opened its second data center in the U.S. Like its first stateside data center, the new one is in Silicon Valley, but Alibaba has not disclosed exactly where it is or how large it is. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that this is for security reasons.
In a press release, Alibaba said that its second center will meet growing demand for its cloud computing and big data analytics services.
AliCloud (also known as Aliyun, the Chinese version of its name) launched its first U.S. data center in March, which also marked the start of its international expansion. Four months later, Alibaba announced a $1 billion investment in the unit to increase its overseas presence.
In addition the U.S., target markets include the Middle East, Singapore, Japan, and Europe. Though it is up against well established rivals like Amazon Web Services, Aliyun’s business strategy focuses on serving the needs of Chinese businesses as they scale up and expand in other countries.
Cloud computing is one of Alibaba’s most important verticals as it grows its ecosystem beyond e-commerce. In a letter published on Thursday as part of an elaborately packaged annual report designed to ease the concerns of investors after a yearlong decline in Alibaba’s stock price, founder and executive chairman Jack Ma said that the company’s cloud computing business is maintaining an annual growth rate of over 100 percent.