Alibaba Group has teamed up with its largest shareholder Softbank Group to provide public cloud computing services in Japan.
The two announced on Friday that they have formed a joint venture, called SB Cloud Corp, to deliver Alibaba Cloud’s technology and services for Japanese enterprises, ranging from startups to multinational companies.
Softbank Corp, the telecoms subsidiary of Softbank Group, owns 60% stake in the venture and Alibaba Group holds the remaining shares, the companies said in a statement.
The Tokyo-headquartered JV, incorporated in January, will open a new data center in Japan and provide Japanese enterprises with Alibaba Cloud's data storage and processing services, enterprise-level middleware as well as cloud security services.
The companies said SB Cloud will play a key role in supporting Alibaba Cloud's business presence in the Japan market where demand for public cloud computing services is growing rapidly.
The pair added that the deal enables Alibaba Cloud to further expand its cloud computing service platform with SoftBank's extensive business customer base in Japan, which comprises numerous global organizations.
“We are proud that Alibaba Cloud can leverage its cloud computing expertise in the joint venture with SoftBank,” said Sicheng Yu, vice president of Alibaba Cloud.
“We look forward to helping more Japanese companies grow their business with our secure, scalable and innovative cloud computing services.”