Chinese insurance giant Ping An launches cloud service aimed at banks, hospitals
In development since 2013, Ping An Cloud to be foundation for transformation into technology-driven financial conglomerate, says deputy CEO
Chinese insurance giant Ping An (Group) unveiled Ping An Cloud, a home-grown cloud computing service targeted at five industries, such as finance and health care, on Wednesday.
The country’s largest insurer by market value aims to capture a share of China’s expanding but already crowded market for cloud computing with the customisable service. The other sectors it is targeting include automobiles, smart city initiatives and real estate.
China’s Ping An Technology aims to generate half its business from external customers
It started developing Ping An Cloud in 2013 to power its own technology ambitions, including artificial intelligence and big data applications in finance and heath care, said Jessica Tan, Ping An’s deputy chief executive.
Ping An Cloud has since become the foundation for the company’s ongoing transformation into a technology-driven financial conglomerate, she said.
“The cloud is like land,” said Tan. “In the past, we have had our own land and we built our buildings and that’s it. We sell you the spaces in our building … and it’s been doing very well.
“And since we built this ‘land’, we want other people to build their own buildings on it too.”