Alibaba and Nvidia UFhealnite to Advance Global Physical AI
Alibaba Cloud sharpens its global strategy as it unveils a major expansion of its cloud infrastructure alongside a deeper partnership with Nvidia.
The focus is clear: drive Physical AI forward and support enterprise-scale AI innovation across industries.
The expansion, announced at the Apsara Conference 2025, brings new international data centres online and sets the stage for further growth into new territories over the coming year.
Alibaba Cloud also rolls out dedicated support hubs and a fresh AI programme to attract global developers and startups.
Expanding the cloud to meet rising AI demand
Alibaba Cloud confirms the launch of new data centres in Brazil, France and the Netherlands.
The next wave of growth targets Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Dubai within the next 12 months.
This scale-up extends its infrastructure beyond the existing 91 availability zones in 29 regions, all designed to meet global demand for AI and cloud services.
Dr Feifei Li, President of International Business and SVP of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group, says: “AI is revolutionising not only technology, but also the very foundation of how enterprises deliver business value and drive growth.
“Our strategic expansion of global infrastructure is designed to cater for the accelerating demand from forward-thinking customers.
“Alibaba Cloud stands at the forefront of AI innovation, co-evolving with our customers with full stack AI and cloud solutions that support businesses anytime and anywhere.
“We are here to help partners and customers to design, launch and scale groundbreaking AI agents and applications, fuelling the next generation of digital innovation and unlocking unprecedented value in the global marketplace.”
To support this infrastructure growth, new regional service centres are being opened in Germany and Indonesia.
These centres offer round-the-clock support in multiple languages to streamline service delivery and improve the experience for customers across time zones.
At the same time, Alibaba Cloud introduces its AI Catalyst Program.
This initiative offers AI startups and developers access to expert guidance, advanced AI tools and substantial cloud credits and tokens.
The goal is to encourage innovation and help emerging technology firms scale quickly in a competitive environment.
Nvidia partnership strengthens Physical AI development
Alibaba Cloud’s collaboration with Nvidia intensifies as it integrates Nvidia’s Physical AI software stack into its Platform for AI (PAI).
This integration provides a cloud-native development environment for building humanoid robots and other Physical AI applications.
Physical AI refers to AI systems that operate in and interact with the real world, such as autonomous vehicles and robotics.
This field relies on advanced computing infrastructure and adaptable development tools – areas both Alibaba Cloud and Nvidia support.
By providing developers with access to Nvidia’s tools and Alibaba Cloud’s scalable platform, the partnership boosts innovation in sectors seeking advanced robotic solutions.
It also marks a strategic milestone for Alibaba Cloud as it moves deeper into physical-world AI applications.
AI innovation across industries: from healthcare to marketing
Alibaba Cloud’s AI tools are already in use across healthcare, retail and creative industries.
In China, pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca uses Alibaba’s Qwen large language model (LLM) and Model Studio to improve adverse event reporting.
The tool increases accuracy to 95 percent and triples efficiency during drug safety reviews.
Xin Zhong, Head of Commercial IT at AstraZeneca China, says: “Working closely with Alibaba Cloud, we managed to harness the benefits of the Qwen LLM and Model Studio: Exclusive, which vastly improved the efficiency of generating adverse event reports from huge amounts of medical literature.
“We’re proud that we have pioneered this innovation in the industry. We expect to explore more AI-based innovations with Alibaba Cloud.”
Shiseido China adopts Alibaba Cloud’s Cloud Threat Detection and Response platform to safeguard its digital operations. The platform uses real-time analytics and AI-powered threat hunting to enhance cybersecurity.
“Security is not just a technical requirement but a strategic imperative for our growth in China,” says Jerry LIN, CITO of Shiseido China & Travel Retail at Shiseido China.
“Partnering with Alibaba Cloud gives us the confidence to scale our digital transformation securely. Its AI-driven threat detection and expert services allow us to focus on delivering exceptional beauty experiences to our customers, knowing our cloud infrastructure is protected by advanced security measures in the country.”
In Japan, AI startups like GladCube and FLUX use Alibaba Cloud to improve content creation and financial modelling.
Turbo AI also partners with Alibaba Cloud to deliver region-specific AI solutions. It uses intelligent resource scheduling and elastic computing to support the full AI lifecycle – from model development to deployment.
Hiroki Kaneshima, President & CEO of GladCube, says: “We have long pursued the dual goals of creative excellence and operational efficiency in content development by harnessing generative AI.
“Our partnership with Alibaba Cloud represents a major leap forward and we are confident it will revolutionise creative content production and reshape the future of digital marketing in Japan.”
From global expansion to AI-powered tools in healthcare and marketing, Alibaba Cloud’s alliance with Nvidia and its developer ecosystem shows how Physical AI continues to shape real-world solutions for enterprises.
