Alibaba expands AI cloud services in Malaysia, Philippines
The Hangzhou-based company's cloud unit launched its third data centre in Malaysia this week and it also plans to open its second data centre in the Philippines in October, it said in a statement released on Wednesday (Jul 2).
Alibaba Cloud also said it's launching a global competency centre in Singapore to help accelerate AI adoption across industries. It said the centre would help more than 5,000 businesses and 100,000 developers access advanced AI models.
'Globalisation is Alibaba Cloud's long-term strategy,' Alibaba chief executive officer Eddie Wu said in a recorded video message at a company event in Singapore on Wednesday.
Alibaba will accelerate the buildout of its global cloud network in China, Japan, South Korea, South-east Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Americas over the next three years, he added, reiterating its commitment to spend more than US$53 billion on AI infrastructure during the period.
Best known for its e-commerce operations in China, Alibaba has been charging into AI, building standalone offerings around its Qwen AI models and growing its cloud services. It has also announced infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico and South Korea.
In the wake of DeepSeek's emergence on the global stage, Alibaba chief executive officer Eddie Wu declared in February the company's 'primary objective' is now artificial general intelligence, a goal in the industry to build AI systems with human-level intellectual capabilities. BLOOMBERG
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Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
From banks to tech: Microsoft latest to announce job cuts, layoffs for 2025
[SINGAPORE] In 2025, a growing number of corporations globally have announced job cuts, as macroeconomic pressures, restructuring efforts, and shifting strategies force companies to trim their workforces. The latest development took place on Wednesday (Jul 2), when Microsoft announced it is carrying out a round of layoffs globally. Here are some of the job cuts in 2025 so far, including those in Singapore: Technology Microsoft The tech giant will lay off nearly 4 per cent of its workforce, or about 9,000 people. This is the second time this year it is cutting headcount – the first was in May, which affected about 6,000 employees. The company had about 228,000 employees worldwide as at June 2024. It said it was looking to reduce costs amid huge investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up It plans to reduce layers with fewer managers and streamline its products, procedures and roles. Intel As part of a move to streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture, Intel announced plans to cut more than 20 per cent of its staff on Apr 23. In a similar cutback in 2024, Intel slashed 15,000 jobs. Microsoft Microsoft announced its first round of 2025 layoffs in May, which affected 6,000 people largely in product and engineering positions. Meta Meta Platforms was said to be laying off more than 100 people across its Reality Labs division focused on creating virtual reality (VR) and wearable devices on Apr 25, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The latest round of job cuts impacted Reality Labs staff focused on creating VR experiences for Meta's Quest headsets, as well as operations-focused employees working on hardware, as Meta leadership sought to streamline similar work being done across two different teams within Reality Labs. Earlier this year, Meta cut roughly 5 per cent of staff – about 3,600 people – in what was described as performance-based terminations. Finance and banking Standard Chartered The move to offshore jobs to India has affected about 80 Singapore-based employees whose roles are from the bank's technology and operations teams according to a report in The Straits Times on Thursday (Jun 19). HSBC Some of its investment bankers were placed on short-term retention agreements in March as it wound down various businesses in a broad overhaul led by new chief executive officer Georges Elhedery. In some cases, the bankers were on three- to six-month work arrangements to finish client mandates across Europe, Asia and the Americas, after the lender said it would shutter selective investment-banking units. The plan also included cutting many vice-chair roles in various markets, though it is not clear how many bankers were affected. Barclays Its investment bank division announced on Jun 9 that it was preparing to cut more than 200 jobs as part of chief executive officer CS Venkatakrishnan's plan to boost its profitability. Staffers in investment banking, global markets and research will likely be affected and managing directors will be the most senior roles affected. The reduction represents about 3 per cent of the investment bank's headcount. Venkatakrishnan set out a new strategy last year that anticipated about £2 billion (S$3.5 billion) of efficiency savings across the bank by 2026, helping to boost earnings and return £10 billion to investors. Citi Citigroup announced on May 16 that it was cutting up to 200 information technology (IT) contractor roles in China, as the bank looks to hire its own staff globally for such operations to improve risk management and data governance. On Jun 5, Citigroup also said it will reduce the number of employees at two of its technology centres in China by about 3,500 as it pushes to simplify and shrink global tech operations to improve risk and data management. The reduction of staff at the China Citi Solution Centres in Shanghai and Dalian is expected to be completed by the start of the fourth quarter this year, it said. Electronics Siemens The industrial giant announced on Mar 18 that it planned to cut over 6,000 jobs worldwide due to weak demand and increasing competition in China and in its home market. About 5,600 of the job cuts will be made by 2027 in the automation business, which supplies robotics, other machinery and industrial software to factories, with about half the roles lost in Germany. In its vehicle charging business, the group plans to cut 450 positions from a total of 1,300 employed in the operation worldwide by the end of the current financial year. The company was unable to confirm whether, or how, the workers in its Singapore office will be affected, a spokesperson for Siemens Singapore told The Business Times on Mar 19. But a new Tuas factory, scheduled to begin operations in 2025 or 2026, will not be affected. The facility will allow Siemens to 'even better serve the growing South-east Asian markets', the spokesperson said. Panasonic On May 9, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said it was targeting 10,000 job cuts worldwide as part of efforts to boost productivity among its workforce. 'This measure targets 10,000 employees (5,000 in Japan and 5,000 overseas) at consolidated companies,' it said. The figure represents around four per cent of the firm's total workforce of nearly 230,000. The cuts will be implemented mainly in the financial year ending in March, it said. STMicro Microelectronics expects 5,000 staff to leave the company in the next three years, including 2,800 job cuts announced earlier this year, its chief executive Jean-Marc Chery said on Jun 4. Transport Jetstar Asia Australian flag carrier Qantas will wind down the operations of its Singapore-based unit Jetstar Asia and shut it down on Jul 31, as rising costs threaten the sustainability of its business, said Jetstar Asia in a Jun 11 statement. The move sees more than 500 employees retrenched. Nissan The Japanese automaker said on May 12 that it was looking to slash more than 10,000 jobs globally, bringing the total cuts including previously announced layoffs to about 20,000 or 15 per cent of its workforce. Volvo Volvo Cars said on May 7 that it would make production changes and cut five per cent of the workforce at its Charleston plant in the United States due to changing market conditions and evolving trade policies, including tariffs. 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Adidas German sportswear giant Adidas announced up to 500 job cuts on Mar 5, primarily affecting staff at Adidas' headquarters in Herzogenaurach according to chief executive officer Bjorn Gulden. Procter & Gamble The consumer goods giant said on Jun 5 that it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 6 per cent of its total workforce over the next two years, as it navigates uneven demand due to tariff uncertainty. The company had about 108,000 employees as of June last year and said the job cuts would account for roughly 15 per cent of its non-manufacturing workforce. P&G has so far stayed silent about how its planned job cuts will affect its operations in Singapore. The company employs some 2,300 people in Singapore, which is home to its Asia-Pacific headquarters and a major research-and-development facility. 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Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
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Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
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