Tencent CEO Pony Ma said on Tuesday at the 2016 Tencent Cloud summit that cloud servicing is the most important infrastructure related factor in China’s Internet Plus strategy. He said that enterprises, beyond merely merging with the Internet, must merge with the cloud.
Ma said that cloud servicing today is more than simply a cloud storage service, as it closely involves China’s Internet Plus strategy and the future of China’s internet infrastructure. In recent years, while traditional enterprises have been embracing the internet and cloud computing, many newly born enterprises such as Didi Chuxing have been based on cloud platform from the very beginning.
According to Ma, Tencent is offering cloud services for three major reasons:
First, five years ago, Tencent put forward the strategy of opening up its platform and resources, and this act itself is effectively a kind of cloud servicing. Through the opening up to partners of Tencent’s resources like its account system and supporting capacity, Tencent Cloud was already beginning to take shape.
Second, the sharing economy in areas like transportation and accommodation can be looked at as a process where resources are uploaded to a cloud platform and shared by everyone. Similarly, cloud servicing can be seen as a form of sharing economy, helping enterprises maximize their profits. Ma set the mobile game developer Supercell as an example: a company of fewer than 190 employees is valuated to over USD 10 billion, and cloud technology contributes to its efficiency. Tencent bought 84% of Supercell’s shares with USD 8.6 billion this June.
Third, Future technological innovations in fields ranging from artificial intelligence and the internet of things, to driverless vehicles and robotics, are very likely to rely on the cloud, as big data must be supported by cloud computing.
Ma also explained his concerns on cloud safety, saying that by keeping track of users’ credit history, Tencent Cloud can offer a safe environment for its partners, who are not only connected to Tencent’s cloud services but also resources from Tencent’s entire ecosystem.
Launched in 2013, Tencent Cloud welcomed 100 million users in the first 10 months, and the number hit 300 million in 2014. In addition, with a focus on enterprise customers, it achieved over 100% YoY revenue growth in 2015.
(Top photo screened from Tencent Tech)