Asia Tech x Singapore, 2025, 05: Alibaba and SAP in strategic partnership

Asia Tech x Singapore, 2025, 05: Alibaba and SAP in strategic partnership

Alibaba Group and SAP have announced a strategic partnership aimed at helping enterprises modernise their operations through cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

As part of the collaboration, Alibaba Cloud has joined SAP’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Certification Program and will support customers running SAP’s enterprise cloud solutions.

Alibaba Group will also use SAP Cloud ERP Private as part of its enterprise infrastructure.

The partnership will initially focus on the China market, with plans to expand into Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Enterprises in these regions will be able to implement SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and access SAP Cloud ERP solutions on Alibaba’s infrastructure, as well as embark on their RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP programs.

The two companies plan to establish a joint go-to-market approach to serve global businesses across industries with scalable and intelligent solutions tailored to local needs.

As part of the collaboration, Alibaba Group intends to deploy a range of SAP products to enhance its internal systems and improve agility.

SAP is also exploring the integration of Alibaba’s large language model, Qwen, into the SAP AI Core in China.

This would allow enterprise users to access localised generative AI capabilities within SAP’s applications and Custom AI applications.

The company is further evaluating the deployment of its SAP AI Foundation on Alibaba Cloud to support customers in China with scalable AI tools.

“Our collaboration with SAP reinforces our commitment to empowering global businesses with world-class technologies.

By combining SAP’s enterprise software with Alibaba Cloud’s robust infrastructure and AI capabilities, we are enabling customers to build smarter, more agile operations,” said Joe Tsai, Chairman of Alibaba Group.

“Our collaboration with Alibaba Group is a testament to the power and flexibility of SAP’s cloud solutions. Our joint go-to-market strategy can unlock new opportunities for enterprises by providing them with access to a comprehensive suite of tools and services.

Together, we can help our joint customers drive innovation, improve operational performance, and create new competitive advantages, and we look forward to working with Alibaba to shape the future of cloud-powered digital transformation,” said Christian Klein, CEO of SAP.