Three areas of the company's cloud business will be prioritized, CNBC reported, citing an informed source.
Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is making changes to the management structure of its cloud business and its strategy. In particular, the company will put a bigger emphasis on three business units within the cloud space — public cloud, hybrid cloud and cloud infrastructure. While these groups existed previously, Alibaba has newly instated executives that oversee the divisions and that report to the company’s top leadership.
Weiguang Liu will lead the public cloud division, a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly on it told CNBC, while Jin Li will lead the hybrid cloud unit. Both executives will report to Alibaba’s group CEO Eddie Wu, the source said.
Jiangwei Jiang will lead the cloud infrastructure unit, reporting to the cloud division’s Chief Technology Officer Jingren Zhou, the person added.
The company will focus on AI in the cloud, as AI applications require vast amounts of computing power that cloud computing firms can offer. Alibaba hopes to capitalize on this prospect.
Last week, the company said the recent expansion of restrictions on exports of advanced computer chips from the U.S. to China could have a material adverse impact on the cloud segment's ability to sell products and services and fulfill the terms of existing contracts, the company warned.
Given these circumstances, Alibaba has decided against a full spin-off of its cloud business.
Source: CNBC
