Cloudflare and JD Cloud plan to expand their long-standing partnership to support AI inference workloads across global markets, with a particular focus on traffic between China and the rest of the world.
The companies said the broader collaboration is projected to reduce latency for AI inference workloads by up to 80 per cent. The move targets developers who need geographically distributed infrastructure as they deploy artificial intelligence applications at scale.
Cloudflare operates a global connectivity network, while JD Cloud provides cloud infrastructure and services within China as an affiliate of eCommerce group JD.com. The two businesses have worked together for about five years.
The expanded relationship will centre on a shared platform for deploying, managing and scaling AI inference. Developers will be able to run AI models across both Cloudflare’s international footprint and JD Cloud’s infrastructure in China.
The companies said the aim is a more cohesive networking experience for AI traffic across borders. They positioned the arrangement as an AI cloud that spans multiple regions and links global developers to the Chinese market and Chinese developers to overseas users.
Cloudflare and JD Cloud expect the combined infrastructure to cut response times for AI workloads by routing inference requests to data centres that are closer to end users. They said this will be supported by integration between their respective networks.
“The future of AI depends on a truly global network that can keep up. Our partnership with JD Cloud makes that possible-giving developers a simple, reliable way to build and run AI applications seamlessly across the world,” said Matthew Prince, Co-founder and CEO, Cloudflare. “By minimising the technical and logistical hurdles for AI developers, we are providing the essential tools for businesses to succeed in a competitive international landscape.”
The latest phase builds on an existing solution that allows multinational customers to establish a presence in China through Cloudflare’s platform. Users can activate coverage in China through the interface they already use for other regions.
Once enabled, traffic from users located in China is automatically routed to local data centres operated by JD Cloud. Traffic from users in other countries goes to the nearest Cloudflare location worldwide.
Cloudflare said this configuration removes the need for customers to modify application code when they extend services into China. The approach relies on network-level integration rather than changes in the underlying software stack.
The set-up also incorporates Cloudflare’s security products. These include its cloud-based web application firewall, distributed denial-of-service mitigation services and global content delivery network.
The companies said AI inference workloads will benefit from the same routing and security structure. Inference requests from Chinese users will run on JD Cloud’s infrastructure. Requests from users elsewhere will run on Cloudflare’s network of points of presence.
Cloudflare and JD Cloud said their alliance reflects rising demand for AI infrastructure options that comply with local requirements while still linking into international networks. They highlighted cross-border scenarios in areas such as eCommerce, logistics and digital services.
JD Cloud said it sees alignment between its strategy and Cloudflare’s focus on network-based services. It pointed to JD.com’s logistics and retail operations as a base for its own technology offerings.
JD Cloud said Cloudflare’s mission complements JD Cloud’s commitment to delivering premier services to its partners and customers. By leveraging JD.com’s experience across a range of business scenarios and its technological and logistical strength, JD Cloud plans to extend its services through the partnership.
The partners expect demand for geographically distributed inference to grow as more businesses integrate AI into customer services and internal processes. They plan further work on joint infrastructure and tools for developers building across China and global markets.
