The company will provide Azure public cloud services, software and develoment tools to 100 SMEs worth 100 million yuan ($16.1 million).

Domestic players active in the market have also been making moves into the cloud computing market.

In February of this year, Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc and China Mobile signed a cooperation agreement to jointly build a mobile Internet cloud computing center, which is believed as a brand new model for Internet companies and mobile operators, named Baidu Yizhuang New-generation Search Data Center in Beijing.

In the same month, Lenovo Group Ltd reached a deal with Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Ltd to jointly build a cloud service and product research and development center in Hong Kong.

The company will implement research in big data and enterprise cloud service infrastructure platforms in the center and establish its Asia Pacific data center in Cyberport.

According to an email reply from Lenovo to chinadaily.com.cn on Thursday, through the center, the company aims to introduce external mature business models on cloud services and promote domestic innovative approaches overseas.