Contrary to its previous statements to The Register about maintaining its Australian operations, Alibaba Cloud has disclosed the forthcoming closure of its data centers in Australia and India.

The Chinese cloud giant recently announced this decision as part of their upgrade to their overall infrastructure plan. Alibaba Cloud announced they will invest more in Southeast Asia and Mexico, while shutting down their data centers in Australia and India.

Alibaba Cloud has sent several notices and technical migration plans to customers since December 2023, demonstrating their commitment to helping affected clients. Considering the recent developments, this timeline is quite relevant.

In February 2024, The Register received a tip that Alibaba Cloud was planning to close its operations in Australia and had begun laying off employees. Alibaba's executives said that they have not laid off any employees and that their Australian branch is still operating. Since the decision to shut down was already made, this comment seems like it was trying to avoid the real issue.

The shutdown dates for data center operations in Australia and India have been announced. In Australia, the operations will end on September 30, while in India, the deadline is July 15. Data kept in the Australia (Sydney) and India (Mumbai) regions will no longer be available after these dates. Customers who are impacted are advised to move their data to alternative Alibaba Cloud data centers.

Despite being unexpected, the decision to leave the Australian market might be somewhat explained by the peculiarities of the nation. Australia has 27 million people and is a small but rich country. It already has strong competition from AWS, Azure, Google, and OVH. Australian public opinion of Chinese businesses has been negative in recent years, which could make it challenging for Alibaba Cloud to succeed in that market.

India's decision to pull out initially seemed confusing. India is hesitant to choose a Chinese cloud provider due to its tense relations with Beijing, despite its strong GDP growth rate ranking of ninth in the world. The Register believes Indian consumers are unlikely to seriously consider this option.