CHONGQING, China, March 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 25, 2025, Huawei Cloud hosted its Asia-Pacific Forum at the Go-Global Summit in Chongqing Shancheng International Conference Center, bringing together nearly 200 industry leaders from entertainment, social media, gaming, digital finance, retail, e-commerce logistics, and Web 3.0 sectors. Keynote speakers delved into the current state and future directions of Chinese enterprises' globalization efforts, while also showcasing success stories of companies that have established a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region, highlighting Huawei Cloud's dedication to collaborative innovation with customers and partners in this dynamic market.
Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud Global Marketing and Sales Service
Shang Haifeng, President of Huawei Cloud Asia Pacific
Dr. Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation
Samson Cheung, Deputy Head of CDETO Business and Talent Attraction / Investment Promotion
Six Collaborative Initiatives for Rapidly Expanding Brands in Asia Pacific
In her welcome address, Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud Global Marketing and Sales Service, outlined the company's significant strides in the Asia Pacific region. She mentioned that this region is the largest market for Huawei Cloud outside the Chinese mainland, with Singapore, Hong Kong (China), and Thailand consistently ranking among the top three in terms of revenue creation. This vast region, with Singapore, Hong Kong (China), and Thailand as the top three revenue-generating markets, has solidified its position as the largest market outside China for Huawei Cloud. With the digital economy booming, Asia Pacific has become a hotbed of business opportunities, making it the preferred destination for Chinese enterprises looking to expand their business reach.
However, Jacqueline cautioned that success in this dynamic market requires more than just cutting-edge technology; businesses must also prioritize cost efficiency and adapt to local market nuances to win the trust of customers, partners, and users. To thrive, companies need a deep understanding of each country's unique landscape and conduct targeted market analysis to establish robust market intelligence. By doing so, they can capitalize on emerging opportunities and unlock growth potential over the coming decade.
Shang Haifeng, President of Huawei Cloud Asia Pacific, highlighted the region's unique appeal for Chinese enterprises, citing its cultural, linguistic, demographic, and economic affinities with China. The Asia Pacific market has proven particularly fertile for Huawei Cloud, which has expanded 30-fold over the past five years, making it the fastest-growing cloud service provider in the region.
At the forum, Huawei Cloud unveiled six collaborative initiatives for enterprises venturing into Asia Pacific:
Cloud infrastructure: Providing unified access to robust cloud resources, which enables worldwide business operations.
Technology: Assisting customers and partners in co-creating competitive solutions with cutting-edge technologies.
Sales: Assisting partners in expanding new international markets through shared market opportunities.
Ecosystem: Sharing local ecosystem resources to support customers and partners in achieving business success.
Market: Enabling customers and partners to expand their businesses and increase brand awareness through co-marketing campaigns.
Platform: Opening Huawei's over 20 years of experience in local business, commercial, legal, finance, tax, and compliance operations, supporting enterprises to easily entering the Asia Pacific market.
At the event, Mr. Shang unveiled the "Asia-Pacific Acceleration Program", where Huawei Cloud Asia Pacific will commit USD10 million in dedicated funding to provide six tailored support packages: strategic consulting, solution development, co-marketing initiatives, cloud migration assistance, joint business expansion, and access to industry networks. He stated that this program aims to empower Chinese enterprises to expand their regional footprint by leveraging Huawei Cloud's extensive partner ecosystem in Asia Pacific. With this program, Huawei Cloud stands ready to help customers and partners navigate the complexities of globalization.
Sharing on Business Environments and Talent & Investment Attraction Strategies in ASEAN and Hong Kong (China)
Dr. Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation, underlined that within the next 10 years, ASEAN will comprehensively upgrade its digital infrastructure, foster digital innovation, and lay a solid foundation for becoming a significant global digital economy. Cloud services act as a catalyst for ASEAN's digital growth, offering stable support for a diversified digital economy. He called for continued collaboration, innovation, and investment to empower ASEAN miracle.
Samson Cheung, Deputy Head of Business and Talent Attraction / Investment Promotion at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Chengdu (CDETO), noted that the Chinese mainland excels globally in innovation, digital advancements, and untapped market opportunities. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's robust, diversified financial and capital markets, seamless zero-tariff trade facilitation, and esteemed professional services have solidified its position as the hub for businesses expanding beyond China into the Asia-Pacific region. As a cosmopolitan hub connecting East and West, Hong Kong seamlessly integrates global and Chinese strengths, drawing in top-tier businesses and exceptional talent from around the globe.
Success Stories from Chinese Enterprises
Li Jianggan, founder and CEO of MomentumWorks, drew upon his company's extensive global operations experience to share valuable insights on going global. He highlighted Southeast Asia's vast online retail potential, currently at just 12%, significantly lower than China's 30%. To thrive, businesses must harmonize local relevance with global expansion, creating a model that resonates with local customers and partners. Notably, he argued that a high threshold for global expansion is not inherently negative; rather, it drives enterprises to enhance their internal capabilities before expanding, laying a solid foundation for long-term growth.
According to Shou Dong, co-founder and chairman of ADVANCE.AI, the digital payment penetration rate in Southeast Asia leaped from under 10% in 2015 to a remarkable 75% in 2025, while the digital economy scaled up exponentially from USD32 billion to a whopping USD3 trillion. Mr. Shou attributed his company's success to three key factors: early market entry, demand for inclusive finance, and market competition itself. He astutely observed, "While others mine gold, you need to prepare your shovel and uncover your unique, irreplaceable value proposition." Notably, he expressed gratitude towards Huawei Cloud, highlighting their collaborative spirit, saying, "Our first partner wasn't Huawei Cloud, but they were willing to share business opportunities with us without expecting a transaction."
Jin Xiaoxu, Director of Business Globalization at Yonyou, stated in his keynote speech that in 2023, Yonyou launched the strategy of helping Chinese enterprises go global and they aim to upgrade this strategy to version 2.0 by 2026, serving over 2 million enterprises to build IT systems and striving to be the top platform in the Asia-Pacific region. With a decade-long partnership with Huawei Cloud, Yonyou has yielded numerous success stories across the Asia Pacific. As Chinese enterprises expand globally, their demands for digital and intelligent upgrades have become increasingly sophisticated, particularly when it comes to localized operations. To meet this need, Yonyou plans to deepen its roots in the Asia Pacific market, driving localized partnerships and operations while continuing to facilitate smart management for enterprises.
During the panel discussion, the host facilitates a discussion where four guests shared their experiences of expanding into the Asia-Pacific market and the challenges they overcame in this journey, while also exploring how AI empowers or transforms their respective industries.
Tian Ye, founder and CEO of Delivery Chinatown, highlighted the Southeast Asia market's severe fragmentation, particularly emphasizing the difficulties faced by food delivery platforms. Singapore was their first stop in global expansion, despite its high consumption level and relatively small scale, which posed significant regulatory differences. They expressed gratitude towards Huawei Cloud for providing robust support in connecting them with local partners and customers.
Bi Peng, CTO of Island Credit Solution, expressed optimism that the partnership with Huawei Cloud would help address Southeast Asia's unique challenges, particularly the availability of comprehensive localized technologies and services, and optimize data verification and processes by employing AI. Huawei Cloud's infrastructure and AI capabilities will be instrumental in driving their innovation forward.
Jennifer Zhang, President of WIZ.AI, highlighted the talent acquisition as the greatest challenge for expanding globally. She emphasized that AI technology plays a pivotal role in streamlining business processes and boosting efficiency.
Cai Yi, CTO of NXCLOUD, expressed that with Huawei Cloud's backing, they have successfully entered the local market and achieved notable milestones. As the market evolves, it becomes essential to delve into customer needs and continually generate value. With Huawei Cloud's open AI platform, they are able to leverage foundation models at low cost and high efficiency, an efficient way to maintain technological leadership and capitalize on industry transformation opportunities.
Looking ahead, Huawei Cloud will empower Chinese enterprises to gain a competitive edge in the global market through its holistic support and innovative solutions, fostering closer collaboration with customers, partners, and industry peers to drive the globalization of Chinese businesses.
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