As it prepares for IPO, e-commerce conglomerate eyes overseas markets

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Monday launched a data center in Hong Kong, the first step to taking the e-commerce giant's cloud services outside the Chinese mainland and challenging global players such as Microsoft Corp and Amazon Web Services Inc.

The new center will serve local and Southeast Asian customers, according to the company's cloud computing unit. Towngas Telecom, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's largest gas company, is operating the facility with Alibaba.