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Businesses in Asia will accelerate their migration to the cloud this year, according to a survey from Alibaba Cloud and global research firm Nielsen IQ on Tuesday. 

More than 80% of cloud services users in Asia are planning a complete cloud migration in two years, with 84% planning to increase their investment in cloud technology to support business growth, the survey drawing on responses from 1,000 cloud strategy makers in businesses across eight markets in Asia showed. 

“Cloud adoption has become a prerequisite for businesses to succeed, and our customers are adopting a diverse cloud strategy to drive business growth in the digital era,” said Selina Yuan, President of International Business for Alibaba Cloud. Alibaba Group’s cloud computing arm commissioned the survey. 

The gaming industry will see the sharpest increase in cloud investment, followed by the media & telecommunications sector. As more companies embrace digital innovations such as generative AI, they will need cloud computing resources and infrastructure. 

“This is an extremely important opportunity and we intend to fully capture [it],” Alibaba Chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang said during the Q3 earnings conference call.  

The survey showed that Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore are the earliest adopters of cloud services. Businesses in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines are more likely to see higher investment in the cloud, driven by increased use of cloud-based software and services during the pandemic. 

The pandemic has triggered companies to move their critical businesses online. 

More than a third of companies reported that they expect a complete cloud migration within the next six months, according to the survey. 

A growing number of companies in Asia are embracing a hybrid cloud that uses a mix of on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud services for a more flexible mix of cloud computing resources. They are choosing hybrid cloud for customized cloud services and for security support. 

“The variety of cloud strategies adopted in Asia indicates that more businesses are looking for robust, resilient, secure and flexible infrastructures to digitalize their business,” Yuan added. 

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