Alibaba plans logistic investment in Turkey

China-headquartered e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has announced plans to set up a logistic hub Turkey’s Istanbul Airport and also a data centre close the nation’s capital Ankara. The planned projects are expected to see the firm investing well over $1 billion, according to statements credited to its president, Michael Evans.

A local newspaper publisher covered the story, quoting Evans as revealing during an interview that the company was planning to unveil significant investment projects in Europe and the Middle East. He was also quoted as saying that Turkey has the potential to serve as a notable production base.

“We have a serious investment plan at Istanbul Airport. We can evaluate e-export plans from here to Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. We plan an investment of more than $1 billion,” Evans reportedly said.

This is not the first time the global e-commerce giant has made an investment decision within Turkey that signalled a long term commitment to the country and the ecosystem it provides, as Trendyol, recognised as one of Turkey’s most prominent e-commerce platforms, is backed by Alibaba.

“The reason we chose Trendyol was that its technology was advanced and its potential was great. We are positioning this place as a base for Europe and the Middle East,” Evans said.

As it stands, Alibaba Cloud a network of 28 cloud regions and 86 availability zones operational globally. The firm most recently added data centres in Germany, Thailand and Japan in 2022.