On Thursday, Alibaba Cloud launched its first cloud region in Brazil. The company still needs to procure the main portion of electricity required for AI: negotiations with data center providers for supplies ranging from 30 to 70 MW are still ongoing.
This region offers local businesses an alternative to American hyperscale companies, backed by China.
RFP Covered Three Sites with 4 MW Each
The launch includes two availability zones. Brazil is the company's second cloud region in Latin America after Mexico, which opened in February 2025.
Today, Alibaba manages 106 availability zones in 31 regions worldwide. The company confirmed this number on Thursday.
Industry sources reported that Alibaba issued a tender in the market for building three sites with 4 MW capacity each.
One source said that loads of 30 to 70 MW are still in the market, meaning no provider has yet signed a contract with them.
Part of the existing capacity may be located at facilities operated by Ascenty in the inland areas of São Paulo state. Ascenty did not confirm this.
🚀 Alibaba Cloud is now in Brazil.
We have launched our first cloud region in Brazil to accelerate the transformation towards cloud and artificial intelligence. With new data centers, the local infrastructure provides secure, resilient, and scalable cloud services with low latency and data management for Brazilian users... pic.twitter.com/4p9mbpNp3W
— Alibaba Cloud (@alibaba_cloud) August 27, 2026
Profit Fell by 76%, While Capital Expenditure Rose by 75%
Alibaba is not just selling servers. In Brazil, the company offers what it calls enterprise-level "AI agent services."
The portfolio includes solutions for database automation, threat response, and isolated sandboxes for scalable AI agent operations.
The Brazilian technology company Insi joined the initiative to assist medium and large firms wishing to migrate.
The company 4Linux, specializing in open-source software development, is close to finalizing a deal to combine Qwen with deployment and training services. Alibaba said it is targeting startups in e-commerce, fintech, and AI.
"Brazil is one of the world's most dynamic digital economies and a new market of key importance for Alibaba Cloud's expansion in Latin America," said Allen Guo, the company's General Manager for Latin America and Vice President of International Business.
Alibaba Cloud's account on platform X states that this region was created to "accelerate the transformation towards cloud and artificial intelligence" for customers in Brazil.
The AI push in Brazil occurs against the backdrop of US and Chinese competition for market share in developing countries. Alibaba forecasts global investments in cloud infrastructure and AI amounting to $53 billion.
This is part of a stated goal to achieve a combined cloud and AI revenue of $100 billion within five years.
Alibaba's quarterly profit for the three months ending June 30 fell by 76% to 10.54 billion yuan, or $1.55 billion, despite a 9% revenue growth. AI capital expenditure jumped by 75%, reports Cryptopolitan.
Cloud service revenue grew by 45% in the same quarter.
