Tencent Jumps on the Indonesian Cloud Bandwagon with New Data Centers in the Country

A. Amir

Summary Bullets:            

• While the competition is increasing, Tencent could capitalize on its early-mover advantage against AWS and Azure and highlight its vertical capabilities.
• However, there are several competitive gaps it needs to address such as professional services and ecosystem partners.

Tencent is well known in the mass market in ASEAN for its WeChat social media app, JOOX music streaming app, and Shopee e-commerce platform (Tencent is the main beneficiary of Shopee’s parent company with a 39.7% share), each having significantly expanded its subscriber base in the region.  However, very few were aware of the company’s cloud and vertical solutions in the enterprise segment.

Last week, the company launched a new data center in Indonesia, with plans to open another facility in the country in a few months.  The launch is a timely move for Tencent to capture the growing market opportunity despite increasing competition from other cloud players.  To date, Tencent has a total of 61 availability zones across 27 regions, including 20 data centers in 13 locations outside China.  As part of its global expansion plan, it also plans to expand in few other countries, including Malaysia and Thailand later this year.