Alibaba Cloud's First International Data Center Launch

Alibaba Cloud began its significant international expansion, opening data centers outside mainland China, starting with a key region like Hong Kong.

Significance

This expansion was crucial as Global Accelerator relies entirely on having a vast, interconnected network of global points-of-presence (PoPs) and data centers. Without this foundational physical infrastructure, the service could not exist, as it routes traffic through Alibaba's private network rather than the public internet.