[THE INVESTOR] Chinese internet giant Baidu on Nov. 21 denied local news reports that it plans to introduce its cloud services in Korea.

“We don’t have any plans at the moment,” a Baidu spokesperson told The Investor, saying that the firm held talks with Korean companies who are interested in the Chinese market, not the other way around.

According to previous reports, a Baidu Cloud official visited Korea recently to meet independent software ventures to build partnerships ahead of the launch of its cloud services next year.

However, Baidu is considering helping Korean companies launch operations in China using its cloud services, the company said, adding that nothing has been determined as yet. Korean software companies could launch their cloud-based services using its infrastructure.

Meanwhile, competition among global cloud service providers such as Amazon and Microsoft are increasingly becoming fierce in Korea. Sensing an opportunity, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba also introduced its cloud services in Korea last year.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)