Software giant Microsoft is actively pushing for the digital transformation of enterprises based in Asia, with the company’s cloud computing platform Azure rapidly gaining traction in popularity among customers in the region. To aid its efforts in this endeavor, Microsoft also plans on further expanding its network of state-of-the-art data centers across the continent.
When it comes to Microsoft’s cloud computing ambitions in Asia, President of Microsoft Asia, Ralph Haupter, elaborated:
We have more data centers than Amazon Web Services, Alibaba Cloud and Google combined. We’re very committed to building up our platform and technologies to enable more Asian companies to pursue digital transformation with our intelligent cloud services. This is our priority.
Earlier in the year, Microsoft opened two new data centers in South Korea to add to its list of such facilities in Asia. Following those two facilities, industry analysts estimate that Microsoft has invested around USD 18 billion so far in establishing a chain of 38 data centers worldwide.
With many Asian tech startups having already adopted Microsoft’s cloud platform, Mr Haupter went on to state:
For example, across Asia, we’re seeing more video game companies, such as those in Korea, Japan and China, use Azure as a platform to develop and run their games.
Microsoft’s global cloud computing performance in 2017 has been booming, with a 97% increase in revenue from the Azure cloud platform in comparison to last year.