February Alibaba Group announces plans to acquire a 33% equity interest in Ant Financial.
February Alibaba Group unveils its technology showcase – “The Olympic Games on the Cloud” – at Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
Alibaba’s showcase at Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang
February Alibaba Group and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) launch the Alibaba-NTU Singapore Joint Research Institute.
Launch ceremony of the joint research institute
March Alibaba Cloud’s Indonesian data center commences operations.
Launch of the Indonesian data center
March Alibaba Group announces an additional US$2 billion investment in Lazada Group.
April Alibaba Group fully acquires Ele.me, a leading on-demand delivery and local services platform in China.
April Alibaba Group announces a partnership with Tsinghua University to establish a joint research lab focusing on the natural experience for human-computer interaction.
April Alibaba Group and the Government of Thailand enter into a strategic partnership to drive the development of Thailand’s digital economy.
May Daraz Group, a leading e-commerce company in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal, is fully acquired by Alibaba Group.
May Alibaba Group, SenseTime and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation announce the launch of The HKAI Lab.
Launch ceremony of The HKAI Lab
June Alibaba advocates the establishment of the Luohan Academy, an open research platform with Nobel Laureates and leading international social scientists.
Establishment of the Luohan Academy
August Alibaba Group rolls out a new premium “88 VIP” membership package that will offer exclusive benefits to members across the Alibaba ecosystem.
October Ele.me and Koubei are integrated into Alibaba Group’s local consumer services business.
October Alibaba Cloud expands its European presence with the opening of two availability zones in the United Kingdom.
October Alibaba Group and the Rwandan Government sign Memoranda of Understanding to establish an eWTP hub in Rwanda.
Rwanda becomes the first eWTP partner in Africa
November Alibaba Group announces its commitment to help import US$200 billion worth of goods from more than 120 countries over the next five years.
Alibaba pledges to import US$200 billion international goods to China
December Alibaba Group and the Government of Belgium sign a Memorandum of Understanding to promote inclusive trade under the eWTP initiative.
MoU signing between Alibaba Group and the Government of Belgium
