Chinese online retailer Alibaba plans to build a logistics distribution centre near Istanbul Airport. The company also plans to build a large data centre near the Turkish capital Ankara.
Alibaba president Michael Evans said this in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Sabah.
According to Evans, those plans involve an investment of more than $1 billion. Alibaba wants to serve markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia through the hub in Istanbul. Istanbul Airport is the largest in Turkey. The new data centre near Ankara will be the largest in Turkey, says Evans.
Evans says Turkey is in a strong position to support Alibaba’s e-commerce business. The Chinese company is already a major investor in the Turkish e-commerce platform Trendyol. That is now the largest start-up in Turkey.