Recently, Ma Yun seems to have found a way to "export evil anger", while India has been "gently stabbed" unconsciously.
The story begins four years ago, when Alibaba suddenly hit the pause button on its investment in India, causing an uproar in the industry. Now, this sword of "pause" has not only not been withdrawn, but has added a new mark to India's heart - Alibaba Cloud's global data center layout has bypassed India and taken root in South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Mexico. This trick is not only as simple as a strategic shift, but also like telling the world: India, you are no longer a must-go place.
In 2018, just as the Indian technology startup circle was in full swing and looking forward to the rain of capital from the East, Alibaba's "cold water" came unexpectedly. Without much explanation, only action: a moratorium on a new round of investment in India. This move is undoubtedly a hammer for many startups in India. You know, at that time, Alibaba was one of the most active investors in India's technology industry, and the vacuum left by its retreat was not filled for a while.
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Alibaba Cloud's global expansion plan sounds like the "One Belt, One Road" in the tech world. It not only dominates the Chinese market, but also operates step by step in the overseas market, except for India, which is gently bypassed by this blue cloud. Alibaba Cloud chose to build data centers in Asia, the Americas, and Europe, but skipped the seemingly fertile soil of India. Why? Perhaps, it is India's complex foreign investment policy and frequently changing market rules that discourage this former "lover". After all, a stable and predictable market environment is more important than anything else for a company with global ambitions.
India's "being left out in the cold" is not a one-man show for Alibaba Cloud. Technology giants such as Microsoft and Nvidia have also tacitly chosen to bypass India in the construction of overseas data centers. This kind of collective "neglect" has made the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India quite unable to sit still. After all, without the direct participation of these tech giants, India's digital infrastructure construction is like missing the most important piece of the puzzle, and domestic Internet companies and enterprises may face the fate of being "harvested" by giants such as Amazon Cloud and Google Cloud. In this scene, what a word "sorrow"!
Having said that, is Alibaba's series of actions really to "retaliate" against India? I'm afraid it's not that simple. On the big chessboard of the global economy, every player is looking for the best landing point. Alibaba Cloud's global layout is more of a prudent decision based on the trend of global supply chain restructuring, rather than a simple emotional venting. India is trying to profit from the de-Chinaization of supply chains advocated by the United States, only to find that it may only be "empty joy".
On the other hand, the road to the sea of China's electric vehicle supply chain is more sensible. When the European and American markets encountered resistance, Chinese new energy vehicle companies chose more friendly markets such as Germany, Hungary and Brazil, which not only successfully avoided high-risk areas, but also realized the global optimization of the supply chain. In contrast, the overseas journey of the mobile phone supply chain such as vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi seems to be much more passive, as do the major mobile app manufacturers, Pinduoduo and Temu seem to be sleepwalking, and Tencent has not yet fully woken up to deal with this global change.
Therefore, Alibaba's "dance in the clouds" is not so much a "revenge" against India, but a precise layout of the global market. As for who will win in the end, the answer may lie in the next step in the global economy.
After all, everything is possible when the game is not over.
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