As part of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai, China, Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov held a meeting with the management of one of the world's leading technology companies—Alibaba Cloud.
As part of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai, China, Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov held a meeting with the management of one of the world's leading technology companies—Alibaba Cloud.
The negotiations covered topics such as artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, Data Centers, the development of modern digital infrastructure, and the training of highly qualified IT specialists.
Representatives from Alibaba Cloud shared information about the company's latest developments in artificial intelligence, advanced AI models, cloud services, and experience in implementing these technologies across various aspects of life. They highly appreciated the potential of Uzbekistan's youth, the rapidly developing digital market, and the reforms being implemented in the country to advance artificial intelligence.
Sherzod Shermatov emphasized the growing number of local companies utilizing open-source models and artificial intelligence technologies from Alibaba Cloud in Uzbekistan. He noted that it is crucial to develop human capital, improve the qualifications of local specialists, and expand practical cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.
Information was also provided regarding the favorable investment environment for developing data centers in Uzbekistan, including infrastructure opportunities based on 'green' energy.
The parties discussed the phased development of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the country, expanding the capabilities of modern AI platforms for local programmers and enterprises, and training a new generation of specialists in collaboration with the engineering teams of UZINFOCOM and UNICON-SOFT.
Particular attention was paid to forming engineering teams capable of developing and implementing AI-based solutions in vital sectors such as healthcare and education. Furthermore, the agenda included strengthening partnerships with higher educational institutions and creating AI solutions tailored to the needs of government agencies and businesses.
Following the meeting, it was planned to advance projects to the practical stage under the coordination of the Artificial Intelligence Development Center, launch cooperation between technical teams, and demonstrate initial results during ICT Week Uzbekistan, which will take place in September of this year. Further expansion of cooperation on implementing artificial intelligence agents and practical AI solutions in various sectors of the economy was also discussed.
Alibaba Cloud has announced a significant acceleration of its global development, opening new regional data centers in Paris, France, and Johor, Malaysia. These steps were presented at the VivaTech 2026 event in Paris, alongside expansions in Tokyo and Mexico.
The new additions increase Alibaba Cloud's total number of regions to 32 and availability zones to 105 worldwide. This rapid growth is driven by the explosive increase in the need for deploying artificial intelligence models. The company reported that revenue from MaaS (Model-as-a-Service) tokens grew 15 times compared to the previous year in the first five months of 2026.
Contrary to the long-term trend of decreasing costs in cloud computing, in early 2026, AWS, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud raised prices for AI computing power. AWS was the first to raise prices for overseas AI computing by approximately 15% in January, followed by Google Cloud, and then Alibaba Cloud in March. It is important to note that the price increase applied exclusively to AI products, while general cloud servers continued to show cost reductions. This indicates a fundamental shift in the supply and demand dynamics within the AI infrastructure.
In February 2025, Alibaba Cloud made overseas expansion a strategic priority, creating a specialized division for this purpose, which includes hundreds of employees. Company management characterized the internal launch as 'a magnificent turning point in the development of Alibaba Cloud, which spans over ten years.' The company plans investments in AI data centers worth about $52.7 billion, which could potentially rise to $69 billion. In the last 12 months alone, Alibaba spent approximately $16 billion on AI-related purchases, including data centers.
Regarding branding, Alibaba Group signed a multi-year partnership agreement with UEFA and UC3 in May 2026. Through this, the company became the Official Partner in AI, Cloud Computing, and E-commerce for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA European Championship 2028. This collaboration will utilize the large language model Qwen to manage media, fan engagement, and create immersive content.
According to Synergy Research Group data, Alibaba Cloud holds about a 4% share of the global cloud infrastructure market, while AWS holds 29%, Microsoft Azure holds 20%, and Google Cloud holds 13%. Although the company dominates China (IaaS share is 27.9% as of the second half of 2025), international markets are a key area for growth. While the company demonstrated nine consecutive quarters of single-digit revenue growth, global hyperscalers maintained growth rates of around 20%. AI deployment is transforming competition in the cloud sector, requiring computation to be placed closer to end-users to ensure low-latency responses from agents and applications, making the density of global nodes a strategic asset.
