Alibaba Cloud has slashed prices for international customers, while also launching a charm offensive on the partners that serve them.
The China-based public cloud outfit’s new pricing strategy for international customers sees price reductions of up to 59%.
The move is designed to make “core computing resources more accessible for customers of all size”, Alibaba Cloud said.
It covers five core public cloud product categories, namely compute, storage, network, database and big data products, with an average 23% price reduction.
At the same time, Alibaba Cloud has moved to bolster its international partner network with a range of financial incentives.
These include an increase in the standard discount and commission rates for resellers, the removal of initial tier requirements and yearly commitments for resellers, and an enhancement of support for channel partners’ efforts to grow their market presence.
According to the latest figures from Synergy Research, Alibaba Cloud was the fourth largest player in a global cloud infrastructure market that swelled 20% year on year to $74bn in Q4.
Its market share has dropped in recent quarters and now sits below 5%, however.
Applicable to both existing and new customers, the new pricing strategy is designed to ensure the “foundation for AI development remains affordable”, Selina Yuan, President of the International Business of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence said.
“As a cloud service provider committed to facilitating customers’ long-term growth, Alibaba Cloud is dedicated to making AI more accessible in terms of cost efficiency, availability of proven technologies, and more,” she said.
“Our latest pricing strategy is designed not only to reward long-term subscribers with more substantial discounts, but also to ensure that businesses can have a stable foundation to develop their long-term strategies when planning and developing their own AI applications.”
