Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) (HK:9988), is preparing for the inauguration of a second data center in South Korea. This strategic move aims to significantly strengthen the company’s regional infrastructure and meet the growing demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud services, which fuels the growth of the digital economy. The new facility, to be located near Seoul, will complement the company’s existing Korean node, launched in 2022. It will considerably expand computing capabilities and provide enhanced redundancy for both enterprise and government clients, thereby ensuring high reliability and availability of critical services. The announcement comes as Alibaba Cloud vigorously accelerates its “unified global cloud network” strategy, committing a massive investment of over $52 billion in AI-driven infrastructure across diverse geographical regions such as Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. The company plans to open the new data center by the end of this June, highlighting its rapid expansion pace. Alibaba shares (BABA) reacted with a slight decrease of 1.34%, and Alibaba Hong Kong (9988) shares fell by 1.96% upon the news release, reflecting general market volatility and the impact of broader macroeconomic factors, despite the specific positive news for the company.