July 9, 2018, Siemens and Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the deployment of MindSphere, Siemens’ cloud-based open Internet of Things (IoT) operating system, on Alibaba Cloud.  The two companies will leverage each other’s technology and industry resources to build a unique IoT solution to support Industrie 4.0, China’s manufacturing upgrade and transformation and other industrial Internet initiatives, and to jointly foster the industrial IoT in China.  The implementation of MindSphere on Alibaba Cloud will provide compelling services for companies in Mainland China to innovate with advanced industrial solutions.  The MoU was signed under the witness of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his official visit to Germany.

King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) acts as the legal counsel to Siemens in this landmark deal, providing one-stop legal services of high quality including with respect to the designing of the collaboration model, drafting and negotiations of the transaction documents, project landing and etc.  With its legal expertise on cybersecurity, e-commerce and cloud business, KWM plays an important supportive role in the progressing of the deal.  Under the MoU, both companies will begin collaborating immediately and intend to make MindSphere on Alibaba Cloud available in 2019.  KWM will continue to assist the final landing of the project.

KWM team is led by partners Xiao Jin, Xue Han, and Liu Cheng.