Alibaba Cloud MENA chief bullish on expansion in UAE and region
MAITHEM AL ANBARI (ABU DHABI)Alibaba Cloud recently made a significant impact at the Dubai FinTech Summit 2025 by announcing partnerships with LuLu Financial Holdings and Ant Digital Technologies. These collaborations aim to enhance financial innovation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through advanced cloud solutions and generative AI technologies.
Aletihad met with Eric Wan, Vice President of Alibaba Cloud International and General Manager for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, to discuss the company's plans for expansion in the region. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Alibaba Cloud is recognised as one of the largest online and mobile commerce enterprises globally. How would you describe Alibaba Cloud's participation in the Fintech Summit in the UAE?Alibaba Cloud has benefited from robust participation at the Dubai FinTech Summit 2025. We announced strategic partnerships with LuLu Financial Holdings and Ant Digital Technologies during the summit. We also hosted a panel discussion at the summit focused on the future of financial services in an AI-powered world. The panel featured industry experts, including executives from Lulu Financial Holdings, Wio Bank and Zand Bank.
How would you characterise Alibaba Cloud's position within the fintech market, and what are the anticipated developments for the future?Alibaba Cloud holds a significant strategic position in the fintech market, owing to its robust cloud infrastructure and advanced technologies that can empower financial institutions with high performance and scalability. Once companies delegate infrastructure management to the cloud, they can focus their efforts on their core competencies. We are recognised as a leading cloud provider globally and in the region and have been expanding our footprint in the fintech sector through various strategic partnerships and innovative solutions. Here in the MENA region, we offer a wide range of cloud-based services. These solutions provide the necessary agility, scalability, and security required by financial institutions to innovate and grow. Integrating cutting-edge technologies like AI and data analytics into our cloud offerings allows fintech companies to enhance customer experiences, improve operational efficiencies, and ensure regulatory compliance. Given our global presence – in 87 zones across 29 regions – we support fintech companies in scaling up their operations. In the UAE, besides the recent partnerships with Lulu Financial Holdings and Ant Digital Technologies, we also announced our collaboration with Zand Bank, the first fully licensed all-digital bank in the UAE. This partnership focuses on leveraging generative AI, blockchain, and payment technologies to boost the bank's digital capabilities.
What insights can you offer regarding Alibaba Cloud's expansion in the UAE and the agreements it has established with local counterparts?The UAE is a key market due to its thriving economy, tech-savvy population, and strategic location as a global trade hub. Alibaba Cloud is fully committed to long-term investment and expansion in the region, and we have our sights set on more strategic partnerships and investments in digital infrastructure. We believe our strengths in technologies such as AI and cloud computing, and industry solutions in e-commerce, fintech, media, gaming, etc., will likely play a crucial role in supporting the UAE's vision for a diversified and innovative economy. As a first mover in public cloud computing, Alibaba Cloud established a presence here by opening a data centre in Dubai Internet City back in November 2016. With a goal to provide local businesses with robust, secure, and high-performing capabilities, this data centre underwent an upgrade to include state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure, enhanced analytics, databases, industry solutions, and AI services. We have been serving hundreds of customers from different sectors, especially retail, finance, media, gaming, and internet, in the UAE market. In March 2024, we also launched the MEA region's Alibaba Cloud Academy Training Centre. The centre empowers our ecosystem partners and customers by delivering physical and virtual training workshops and certification courses to equip them with the skills needed to thrive in a digital economy. We partnered with Mawdoo3, the GCC's largest online content publisher, to provide the platform with a cost-effective and high-performance cloud infrastructure, including services such as Elastic Computing Service and Relational Database Service (RDS). Another significant project involved the implementation of Alibaba Cloud's Web Application Firewall (WAF) for WEMART, a prominent supermarket chain in the Middle East, taking its business from offline to online during the COVID-19 pandemic. As Alibaba Cloud is being chosen by more and more local businesses as their trusted cloud service provider, we are positive that we will continue to grow.
What are the forthcoming initiatives for Alibaba as a group, including Alibaba's cloud business, international expansion, or trends in financial performance?Looking ahead, Alibaba Cloud views the Middle East as a region ripe with opportunities, driven by its rapid digital transformation across various sectors. I want to emphasise Alibaba Cloud's long-term commitment to investing in the market and to contributing to the success of our local customers and partners. We will continue to introduce leading products and proven solutions in the AI and cloud computing sector to serve our local customers. We will expand our ecosystem with more local partners on board to address sector-specific pain points. We also plan to collaborate with more universities to enhance digital talent training.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Zawya
5 days ago
- Zawya
Alibaba Cloud collaborates with University of Birmingham Dubai to enhance digital skills across the MEA region
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today announced a collaboration with the University of Birmingham Dubai through a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The partnership will introduce advanced curriculum in cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) for students and educators at the University of Birmingham Dubai campus. As part of this initiative, Alibaba Cloud also launched its first internship programme in the UAE region, with the University of Birmingham in Dubai being the pioneer university for the program. Through this collaboration, students and faculty from the University of Birmingham Dubai will gain deeper insights into cloud and AI technologies by participating in advanced technology workshops, extensive training sessions available both online and offline, and various certification courses provided by Alibaba Cloud. Additionally, Alibaba Cloud introduced its "Future Star" internship initiative in the United Arab Emirates, with the University of Birmingham Dubai as its inaugural academic partner. This programme offers a vibrant platform for talent development, delivering interns comprehensive training, hands-on experience, and exclusive mentorship spanning three to six months. Designed to provide a thorough understanding of multiple roles within Alibaba Cloud, "Future Star" ensures that interns are well-equipped to contribute effectively to the cloud computing industry in the digital age. '"We are thrilled to partner with the University of Birmingham Dubai to nurture the next-generation digital skills in the region. The University of Birmingham Dubai, renowned for its dedication to research and education in technology and digital fields, brings a wealth of expertise and visionary thinking to the collaboration. Through this partnership, we are committed to equipping their students and faculties to acquire crucial digital insights, allowing them to engage more deeply with cutting-edge technologies and methodologies. Together, we are poised to unlock numerous opportunities in our rapidly digitalizing world, ensuring that students, educators, and industry professionals alike can thrive in the evolving digital landscape.' said Eric Wan, General Manager of the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. Professor Yusra Mouzughi, Provost of the University of Birmingham Dubai, said: 'We are proud to partner with Alibaba Cloud to provide our students with direct access to real-world learning experiences and cutting-edge technologies in cloud computing and AI. This collaboration reflects our commitment to equipping future graduates with the digital skills and global industry exposure needed to thrive in an increasingly data-driven world. The internship and academic enrichment opportunities offered through this partnership will play a pivotal role in shaping industry-ready talent from our campus here in Dubai to join leading institutions globally." The freshly inked partnership is yet another demonstration of Alibaba Cloud's long-term commitment to creating a sustainable pool of digital talent for the Middle East region. Alibaba Cloud has been a leading provider of cloud services to local private companies and public institutions in the UAE and the wider Middle East region since 2016. It has a robust local ecosystem in the MEA region with partners covering banking, financial services and insurance, media, public sectors, and customers locally across different sectors. About Alibaba Cloud Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud ( is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) services. Alibaba has been named the leading IaaS provider in Asia Pacific by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner. It has also maintained its position as one of the world's leading public cloud IaaS service providers since 2018, according to IDC. About University of Birmingham Dubai The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world's top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries. The University of Birmingham was established by Queen Victoria in 1900 as Great Britain's first civic university, where students from all religions and backgrounds were accepted on an equal basis. The University is renowned for its research excellence and its researchers have received 10 Nobel Prizes. From pioneering organ transplants, discovering gravitational waves and furthering understanding of Shakespeare, to developing cures for cancer, advances in robotics and revealing the structure of DNA, the University has been at the forefront of some of the most ground-breaking discoveries of the last 100 years. The University of Birmingham Dubai opened a purpose-built campus in Dubai International Academic City in 2022, which demonstrates the University of Birmingham's long-term commitment to contributing to UAE society – through in-country partnership in education and areas of research strength that support the National Agenda.
Zawya
22-07-2025
- Zawya
Alibaba Cloud named a leader in Omdia's latest GenAI report
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has been recently named a market leader in Omdia's latest report, 'Market Radar: GenAI Cloud Titans in Asia & Oceania 2025.' The report positions Alibaba Cloud in the 'Leader' quadrant, highlighting its generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) capabilities and comprehensive product portfolio across the Asia & Oceania region. Alibaba Cloud is named one of four leaders among nine global vendors evaluated in Omdia's report, receiving the highest 'Advanced' rating in seven out of nine categories. Among the four companies designated as "Leader," Alibaba Cloud received the most "Advanced" ratings. The report evaluated nine key dimensions, including GenAI models, model optimization, GenAI infrastructure, development platforms, deployment, security, and developer community engagement. 'Alibaba Cloud offers end-to-end technology capabilities, including foundation models, GenAI platform, infrastructure, and applications. This positions it as a significant competitor in the global GenAI landscape,' said Omdia in the report. The Omdia report highlighted Alibaba Cloud's strong position in the GenAI market, pointing to its full-stack GenAI solutions, comprehensive and developer-friendly AI platform offering and open source initiatives. Through its Model Studio and Platform for AI (PAI), Alibaba Cloud offers enterprises a user-friendly environment for building and deploying GenAI applications, supported by cutting-edge infrastructure including the PAI-Lingjun Intelligent Computing Service, according to the report. 'GenAI has captured the imagination of businesses in Asia and around the world, and we are grateful to be recognized for our leadership in helping companies implement its capabilities. Our commitment to open source is central to this, driving innovation through one of the largest AI ecosystems in the world. As we accelerate into the AI era, we want to make it as easy as possible for companies to harness the power of this technology and will continue to enhance our model family and solutions to ensure they have the support they need to thrive,' said Jingren Zhou, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. Since August 2023, Alibaba Cloud has actively contributed to the open-source AI community, releasing over 200 advanced AI models. These open-source efforts have resonated widely, as evidenced by the Qwen family surpassing 400 million downloads on platforms like Hugging Face and ModelScope and over 140,000 models built on Qwen by third parties, making it one of the most prominent AI model families worldwide. As of January 2025, more than 290,000 customers across various sectors, including robotics, healthcare, education, finance, and automotive, have adopted Qwen models via Model Studio, Alibaba's generative AI development platform. This momentum underscores Qwen's role in accelerating AI-powered digital transformation across industries in China. Omdia's report also notes that the GenAI software revenue in Asia & Oceania is estimated to be $5.5 billion in 2025. The market is expected to grow more than four times, reaching $19.8 billion in 2029. Currently, 27% of enterprises in Asia & Oceania are already deploying GenAI solutions, with an additional 33% piloting GenAI in at least one business function. For more information and to access the full report, please refer to this link.
Fintech News ME
21-07-2025
- Fintech News ME
DFSA Report: Quantum Computing and AI Introduce New Risks to Finance
As implementation of emerging technologies accelerates, operational resilience, technology risk management, and adaptive oversight will be fundamental to maintaining stability in financial markets. Regulators and institutions must act to raise awareness of emerging threats, enhance readiness, and strengthen technology governance, global financial regulators and experts said during a closed-door meeting. The session, hosted by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) at the Dubai Fintech Summit 2025 in May 2025, bought together 70 representatives from 18 financial regulatory authorities from across the globe, alongside senior experts from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and the International Monetary Fund. These participants examined how cybersecurity, AI, and quantum technologies intersect, discussing practical measures to address the evolving risk landscape, and reflecting on current progress and persistent gaps. An evolving cyber threat landscape Participants warned of the evolving cyber threat landscape, highlighting that cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and harder to control because they easily cross borders and affect many different industries at once. They emphasized the shift from ransomware encryption towards double extortion, which combines data encryption with threats to leak stolen information, as well as the growing use of AI for social engineering. They also noted that threat actors are increasingly attacking newer technologies such as Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices with physical sensors and supply chains, and are using legitimate tools to evade detection mechanisms. To manage these risks, these experts agreed on the need to balance innovation with robust cybersecurity. They advised on strengthening basic defenses, such as keeping software up to date, dividing networks to limit damage, training employees to spot threats, using strong access controls and multifactor authentication, sharing information about threats, and carefully managing risks from third parties like suppliers and partners, while also emphasizing the importance of cross-sector and public-private collaboration as cyber-attacks become orchestrated at industrial scale and are no longer isolated events. Regulators, meanwhile, should provide guidance on quantum and AI-related risks, and raise awareness about these threats. They should also embed cybersecurity into supervisory assessments, and build their own skills and suptech tools to monitor and respond to cyber and emerging technology risks. Quantum risk evolution Quantum risks were another key topic of discussion. Quantum computers, which utilize quantum mechanics to process information, have the potential to revolutionize fields like cryptography, drug discovery, and complex optimization by solving problems exponentially faster than classical computers. However, these same capabilities also pose significant cybersecurity risks. Such powerful quantum computers could theoretically break widely used encryption methods that currently secure online banking, payment systems, and other digital payments. And while these computers, called cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs), don't exist yet, they could emerge by 2030-2040, emphasizing the urgency to prepare for a post-quantum world now. Participants warned that the financial sector is likely to be among the prime targets for quantum threats because of the high value of financial assets transactions financial institutions process. Though the space benefit from strong governance structures and prudential frameworks, important gaps persist, including limited awareness of quantum threats, incomplete inventory of vulnerable systems, and slow global standardization and interoperability. Against this backdrop, experts highlighted that regulatory authorities have a vital role to play in raising awareness on quantum threat, and supporting gradual transition planning. They should also consider introducing regulatory sandboxes for experimentation, cross-border collaboration, and scenario planning that simulate quantum-risk impacts to better prepare for the challenges that quantum technologies may bring. AI risk oversight Finally, the group examined the risks associated with the growing adoption of AI in financial services. First, they noted that financial institutions process large volumes of highly sensitive personal and financial data that are increasingly used to train complex machine learning (ML) models. This enhances the risks of data breaches and intellectual property theft. They also emphasized that AI expands the attack surface for cyber threats, and introduces new points of failure not present in traditional information and communication technology infrastructure, such as data pipelines and ML models. Meanwhile, threat actors are increasingly incorporating AI into their offensive toolkits to enhance, automate, and scale cyberattacks, as well as to adapt to counter-defensive measures. Experts also highlighted the growing resilience on a limited number of dominant AI providers, contributing to supply chain concentration risk and heightening the risk of systemic disruptions in the event of supply chain incidents. They also drew attention to the expanding influence of bigtech companies across the AI ecosystem. Participants encouraged regulators to map supply chains and assess concentration risks across critical technology providers. They also stressed the importance of balancing innovation with adequate oversight, advising for principle-based approaches, and an adaptive, learning-focused posture to respond more effectively to the evolving nature of AI applications. The potential of quantum computing and AI Quantum computing and AI are transforming technologies poised to transform the financial services and banking industry by accelerating secure transaction processing, revolutionizing risk analysis, optimizing complex portfolios, and enhancing fraud detection. McKinsey estimates that quantum computing use cases in the finance industry could create US$622 billion in value by 2035. Meanwhile, generative AI (genAI), a subset of AI that creates new content, could add as much as US$340 billion a year in additional value, representing 2.8% to 4.7% of total industry revenues, largely through increased productivity. However, genAI also introduces risks, such as deepfake and fraud. Deloitte's Center for Financial Services predicts that genAI could enable fraud losses to reach US$40 billion in the US by 2027, from US$12.3 billion in 2023. Despite these challenges, adoption is accelerating rapidly. According to the latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 78% of respondents said that their organizations used AI in at least one business function as of late 2024, up from 55% a year earlier. Boston Consulting Group (BCG)'s AI Radar found that one in three financial institutions plans to spend over US$25 million on AI in 2025, and some will spend in the range of 0.5% to 1% of revenues towards AI technologies.
