Senior executives: Chinese companies go global with Akamai

Chief executive officers and world renowned experts on parallel algorithms and architecture of multinational corporations have noted that as the amount of data increases, companies have gradually become the main targets of hacking.

Dr Leighton, who is the CEO and co-founder of United States-based company Akamai, said mechanisms have to be developed to protect APIs (application programming interfaces) from cyber attacks.

Dr Leighton, who is also a professor of applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said with the continuous development of large language models (LLM), API security issues have attracted more and more attention.

Starting off as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) business to becoming a pioneer in this field with innovative technology, Akamai has expanded its business into the fields of cybersecurity and cloud computing, which collectively account for 66 percent of the company's total revenue, Dr Leighton said.

Parimal Pandya, Akamai's managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, said the Asia-Pacific market is the fastest-growing region for Akamai, covering many key markets, including China, South Korea, Japan, and India. Akamai works with many industry customers in the region, covering technology, media, gaming, finance, retail, and other fields, and is committed to providing customers with secure and reliable content delivery and cloud computing solutions, Pandya added.

Emphasizing the deep connection between Akamai and the Chinese market, Pandya said Akamai has been operating for nearly 20 years in China, and has established solid cooperations with many local partners, helping Chinese companies to expand their businesses on the global stage.

Currently, Akamai's computing products are growing rapidly in the Chinese market, showing great potential, Pandya said.

Li Sheng, vice-president and managing director of Akamai Greater China, emphasized that the Chinese market is not only one of Akamai's largest global markets, but also an important part of its global strategic investment.

Li said Akamai helps Chinese companies build a solid online image worldwide through content delivery, cyber security, and cloud computing services, ensuring efficient operation of applications and providing comprehensive security protection.

By providing customized solutions for Chinese customers, Li said Akamai's local service team plays a crucial role in supporting its Chinese customers to go global, with Akamai becoming the preferred partner for Chinese companies wishing to venture overseas.

Akamai's beginnings rest in the challenge posed by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee at MIT in early 1995. The father of the web foresaw the congestion that became very familiar to internet users, and he challenged his colleagues at MIT to invent a fundamentally new and better way to deliver content on the internet.

Intrigued by the challenge, Dr Leighton, the head of the Algorithms Group at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, recognized that a solution to web congestion could be found in applied mathematics and algorithms, leading him to assemble a team of researchers to tackle the problem.

Dr Leighton stressed that Akamai's cloud computing business is expected to surpass $600 million in revenue this year, with a growth rate as high as 20 percent.

By designing its strategic layout and future development blueprint in the global market, especially in the Chinese market, Akamai will continue to leverage its advantages in cloud computing and cybersecurity in the future, contributing to the globalization and innovation of Chinese companies, Li said.

Please contact the writers at zhuangqiange@chinadaily.com.cn