Alibaba Group’s cloud computing arm has launched its first data centres in the UK, as the Chinese company forges ahead with an ambitious international expansion plan in Europe.

Alibaba Cloud, which was founded in 2009, will host two operational sites in London, adding to the Chinese conglomerate’s existing data centres in Frankfurt and Dubai across Europe and the Middle East.

Alibaba says the new centres will allow the company to offer business customers new cloud computing services, enabling it to better compete with US rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

“Our expansion into the United Kingdom, and by extension into Europe, is in direct response to the rapidly increasing demands we have seen for local facilities within the region,” said Yeming Wang, general manager of Alibaba Cloud’s EMEA operations.

With the addition of Alibaba Cloud’s latest facilities, the division now operates in 19 different regions and has further plans for global expansion.

“Using AI-powered and data-driven technology, our latest data centres will offer customers complete access to our wide range of cloud services from machine learning capabilities to predictive data analytics.”

Alibaba Cloud is the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to market intelligence firm International Data Corporation.