First-Ever Google Cloud Regions To Hit Asia-Pacific Countries

Google is opening up opportunities for channel partners overseas by unveiling plans to spend billions on launching new cloud regions in three Asia-Pacific countries.

Google Cloud is opening the floodgates for new cloud computing opportunities and service sales for global channel partners with the unveiling of three brand-new cloud regions opening in Asia-Pacific.

Google Cloud will be building and equipping new data centers in Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand, which will mark the company’s first cloud region in each country to provide local customers with the infrastructure to empower their cloud services.

“When they launch, these new regions will join our 34 cloud regions currently in operation around the world—11 of which are located in Asia-Pacific—delivering high-performance services running on the cleanest cloud in the industry,” said Karan Bajwa, vice president of Asia-Pacific for Google Cloud, in a blog post Tuesday.

[Related: Google Data Center Explosion Causes Injuries, Outages]

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google has been investing billions each year in constructing new data centers to power Google Cloud’s vast portfolio of cloud services both domestically and internationally.

Asia-Pacific Cloud Services Market To Reach $282 Billion

IT research firm IDC projects total spending on cloud services in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) will reach $282 billion by 2025.

“To meet growing demand for cloud services in Asia-Pacific, we are excited to announce our plans to bring three new Google Cloud regions to Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand—on top of six other regions that we previously announced are coming to Berlin, Dammam, Doha, Mexico, Tel Aviv and Turin,” said Bajwa.

Google did not provide a time frame as to when the three new cloud regions in Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand will become operational.

“Enterprises across industries, startups and public sector organizations across Asia-Pacific will benefit from key controls that enable them to maintain low latency and the highest security, data residency and compliance standards, including specific data storage requirements,” Bajwa said.

Google Cloud’s $25 Billion Run Rate

Google’s cloud computing arm, Google Cloud, is the No. 3 worldwide market-share leader in cloud services, trailing Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

As of the second quarter, AWS owns approximately 34 percent of the global cloud market share, followed by Microsoft at 21 percent, then Google at 10 percent, according to IT market research firm Synergy Research Group.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are also the largest spenders on building new data centers, with billions in investment each quarter.

Google Cloud has been growing sales at a ferocious pace over the past several years.

In 2018, Google Cloud was generating $5.8 billion in annual sales. Google Cloud now generates that much in a quarter, reporting $5.8 billion in first-quarter 2022 sales, representing a 220 percent increase compared with its first-quarter 2019.

With a record-breaking $6.3 billion in revenue in its most recent second -quarter 2022, Google Cloud’s annualized run rate now surpasses $25 billion.

Google’s U.S. And International Data Center Expansion Plans

This year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled plans to invest $9.5 billion in data centers and U.S. offices in 2022.

“Our investments in data centers will continue to power the digital tools and services that help people and businesses thrive,” said Google CEO Pichai in April.

Over the past few months, Google unveiled plans for a new $750 million data center in Nebraska, as well as opening a new data center in Dallas.

Google also plans to spend billions on U.S. data centers in Georgia, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nevada, Tennessee and Virginia.

Google also said last month that a new Google Cloud region is coming to Mexico, marking the company’s third region in Latin America.

In June, Google opened a new data center and cloud region in Milan, Italy.

“These new cloud regions represent our ongoing commitment to supporting digital transformation across Asia-Pacific,” said Google’s Bajwa.

“We continue to invest in expanding connectivity throughout the [Asia-Pacific] region by working with partners in the telecommunications industry to establish subsea cables—including Apricot, Echo, JGA South, Indigo and Topaz—and points of presence in major cities.”

Google now has a global network of 34 regions and 103 availability zones, brining Google Cloud services to users in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.