Alibaba Cloud Global Backbone
Global private enterprise network linking China's hyperscale computing hubs with Europe, APAC, and the Americas
Open it on the earth: cut a link, lose a siteWorkbook (DC Sim template v1.4)
The story
Alibaba Cloud operates China's largest cloud infrastructure network, spanning dozens of regions worldwide connected by private high-speed terrestrial fiber and international subsea cables. Anchored in domestic hubs including Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhangbei, the backbone extends across trans-Pacific and Eurasian routes to Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Silicon Valley. Using its Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) technology, enterprise customers establish automated cross-border connections compliant with international telecommunications frameworks.
Notable
- China's largest cloud provider network, interconnecting more than 80 availability zones across 30 regions worldwide.
- Anchored in domestic green compute hubs including Zhangbei (Hebei) and Gui'an (Guizhou).
- Operates private multi-terabit subsea paths connecting Mainland China to APAC, Europe, and the US West Coast.
- Features the Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) for dynamic multi-point cross-border traffic orchestration.
Sites
| Code | Place | Role | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| HGH | Hangzhou, China | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
| ZHB | Alibaba Cloud Zhangbei data center | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
| HKG | Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR China | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
| SIN | Singapore, Singapore | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
| TYO | Tokyo, Japan | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
| FRA | Frankfurt, Germany | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
| SJC | Silicon Valley, United States | primary | Alibaba Cloud |
Links
| From | To | Type | Capacity | Length | Year | Protected | Est. one-way latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HGH | ZHB | terrestrial | 8,000 Gbps | ≈ 1,304 km (great circle) | — | yes | 21 ms |
| HGH | HKG | terrestrial | 6,000 Gbps | ≈ 1,066 km (great circle) | — | yes | 19.5 ms |
| HKG | SIN | submarine | 6,000 Gbps | ≈ 2,586 km (great circle) | — | yes | 32 ms |
| HGH | TYO | submarine | 5,000 Gbps | ≈ 1,911 km (great circle) | — | yes | 38 ms |
| HKG | FRA | terrestrial | 4,000 Gbps | ≈ 9,158 km (great circle) | — | yes | 145 ms |
| TYO | SJC | submarine | 5,000 Gbps | ≈ 8,341 km (great circle) | — | yes | 82 ms |
Latency marked ≈ is our estimate from the great-circle distance × 1.5 at 5 µs per km, not the operator's figure.
Sources
- Alibaba Cloud Global Infrastructure and Network · Alibaba Cloud · 2024-01-01
- Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) Architecture · Alibaba Cloud · 2024-01-01
Part of the open famous data centers dataset (CC BY 4.0). Updated 2026-10-15.
What is Alibaba Cloud Global Backbone famous for?
Global private enterprise network linking China's hyperscale computing hubs with Europe, APAC, and the Americas
How many sites and links does Alibaba Cloud Global Backbone have in this dataset?
7 sites and 6 links, of which 0 are recorded as not protected. Figures are from the public sources listed on the page.
Who operates Alibaba Cloud Global Backbone?
Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun)