(Yicai Global) May 28 -- Chinese cloud computing provider Inspur Group is pushing its planned listing on Shanghai's upcoming science and technology innovation board, Yuan Yisheng, its chairman, said today.

The firm, which is based in Jinan, capital of China's eastern Shandong province, has already turned a profit, he added.

The public cloud computing service has grown rapidly in recent years, but few service providers targeting this sector have gained a return. Only Amazon Web Services, a supplier of on-demand cloud computing platforms and a unit of the US technology giant of the same name, has claimed to be profitable.

Even Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing service subsidiary of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding, which claims most domestic market share, still runs in the red. The sector's explosive growth has forced participants to focus on breakneck market expansion at any cost, and pursuit of profits now means handing market share to rivals, an insider told Yicai Global.

The market segment a company is in determines profits, Yuan told Yicai Global in an interview today, adding suppliers of cloud computing services to the video and game sectors do indeed find profits elusive, but industrial internet is a different kettle of fish.

Inspur's  platform serves over 1 million companies in the chemical, machining, and auto part industries and the professional services and other sectors. Its clients include units of China Railway Group and China Grain Reserves, its official site shows.

The company ranked ninth among various domestic cloud computing service companies in information technology magazine China Internet Week list of top 100 cloud computing firms last year. Formed in 2000, and previously called Langchao, it has now developed into a multinational company.

Ucloud, another public cloud computing services provider, has also tendered its bid lately for an initial public offering to the sci-tech innovation board.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Ben Armour