(Yicai Global) July 2 -- Alibaba Cloud supported 38 percent of Fortune 500 companies over the past fiscal year, the artificial intelligence arm of Alibaba Group said today.

The Hangzhou-based firm also expressed confidence in the future of the global digital economy, as areas, including healthcare, business, education and leisure, accelerate digitization amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This crisis, along with the pain it is causing, will pass in time,” Jeff Zhang, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said at this year’s Alibaba Cloud Summit today.

“Our foremost concern now is how we can help businesses, large or small, seize the meaningful opportunities in the next phase towards recovery,” he said. “We are working closely with our partners to comprehensively upgrade current processes for the new normal.”

Alibaba Cloud, the biggest public cloud-service provider in the Asia Pacific region, has reaffirmed its commitment to further support global companies as digitization drives global economic development and economic recovery amid the coronavirus outbreak.

It announced plans in April to invest CNY200 billion (USD28 billion) to expand service coverage and enhance its infrastructure and product portfolio, while hiring a further 5,000 staff globally in networks, database, servers, chips and AI. Alibaba Cloud will also launch a CNY2 billion (USD283 million) initiative for joint innovation projects with partners this fiscal year.

As of the end of last year, Alibaba Cloud was operating 63 availability zones in 21 regions globally, offering services to businesses in over 200 countries and regions.

Editor: Peter Thomas