By Cheng Yu in Beijing and He Wei in Shanghai | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-10-30 17:15

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, announced Monday it would officially open its services in Malaysia, as the internet giant speeds up its overseas expansion in not only e-commerce but also internet infrastructure.

The company's landing in Malaysia helps it to become the first international cloud service provider to offer cloud computing services in the country and to top Southeast Asia with the widest infrastructure coverage.

According to the company, it will provide local companies with internet infrastructure services including computing, storage and network, as well as products and services in internet middleware and artificial intelligence.

The company will also partner with other firms, including digital economy company Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, to aid Malaysian enterprises in cultivating IT talent and accelerating the application of AI in tourism, finance, logistics and transport.

"The newly-opened services in Malaysia can better support local SMEs and start-ups and provide infrastructure and technical support to Chinese companies to help them go global," said Hu Xiaoming, president of Alibaba Cloud.

As of now, its services are available to 15 regions across the world, including parts of the US, Australia, Japan and Singapore, which have supported billions of users globally. More than 100,000 Chinese companies have used its overseas cloud services.

In Malaysia, an array of firms including low-cost airline AirAsia, IT software group FusioneX and telecom carrier TIME have already inked cooperation deals with Alibaba Cloud.