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The cloud unit of Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies is wooing overseas industry clients and expanding its global footprint with new data centres, banking on the explosive demand for generative artificial intelligence (AI), despite US sanctions.

Huawei plans to open a new local cloud service in Egypt next month, adding to its 85 availability zones across 30 regions globally, according to executives at the companys cloud summit in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday, ahead of Monday's opening of telecoms industry trade show MWC Barcelona 2024. The Shenzhen-based firm will also soon launch its first AI cloud computing centre in Hong Kong, the company's executives said.

At Huawei Cloud, AI is a key strategy, said Jacqueline Shi, president of Huawei Cloud global marketing and sales service. Were building a solid cloud foundation for everyone, for every industry, to accelerate intelligence.

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Huaweis expansion in cloud computing has formed part of its ongoing efforts to forge deeper ties with traditional industries and corporations as it seeks to diversify revenue streams. The US has put multiple sanctions on the company since May 2019 when it was added to Washingtons Entity List, which cut off its access to critical American technologies and all but killed its lucrative global smartphone business.

Huaweis cloud sales reached 45.3 billion yuan (US$6.3 billion) in 2022, after seeing rapid growth outside China, according to the company. Its cloud business saw steady growth last year, according to a new years message by Huaweis rotating chairman Ken Hu Houkun in December.

The company is the second-largest cloud services provider in China, according to research firm Canalys, and it has been steadily expanding its global footprint. Last year it opened new data centres in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

At the opening ceremony last September for the data centre in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, Huawei promised to support 200,000 new developers in the country, and work with 1,000 local partners and 2,000 start-ups through its cloud computing services over the next five years.

Huawei also saw the number of its cloud partners in Europe quintuple last year. It pledged to support the growth of 1,000 European start-ups through cloud services in the next five years.

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Huaweis cloud unit banks on booming AI demand in Europe and Middle East - South China Morning Post