Ant Group and Intel Form Partnership to Make IT Leasing More Accessible to SMEs Through Blockchain Technology

HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Group”), an innovative technology provider, today announced a cooperative effort with Intel to make it much easier and cost-effective for SMEs to lease IT equipment, leveraging the application of blockchain technology to strengthen transparency and build a system of trust.

Using proprietary blockchain technology, the partnership aims to empower the IT equipment leasing industry while accelerating the digital transformation of SMEs, many of which have seen their capital flows and supply chains disrupted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This partnership draws from Ant Group and Intel’s complementary strengths to bolster transparency and efficacy among IT leasing vendors, enabling them to serve more SMEs and help them grow their businesses with improved efficiency and lowered cost.

Ant Blockchain, Ant Group’s proprietary productivity blockchain platform, can help all parties in the entire IT rental and leasing process to build trust with each other. Intel’s cloud device management technology helps leasing vendors to check the use status of the authorized hardware device using Intel’s CPU. Increasing the level of trust and transparency among all parties in the leasing process enables financial institutions, such as insurance companies and SME loan providers, to swiftly make informed decisions about businesses, giving SMEs greater flexibility to expand their operations.

“We are excited to partner with Intel as we continue to help millions of SMEs transform their businesses and operations,” said Geoff Jiang, Vice President of Ant Group. “Blockchain technology can play a pivotal role in building a solid system of trust among multiple parties and bringing more value to consumers, vendors, and the communities they operate in.”

Yali Liang, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Communications Group of Intel, said, "With Ant Blockchain, we can help SMEs reduce fixed costs and alleviate pressure from IT equipment maintenance, which will accelerate the digital transformation of SMEs through IT rental industry."

Zugeliang, a Hangzhou-based IT equipment leasing platform, used Ant Blockchain to increase the level of trust among all parties involved in its leasing processes in 2019. Since then, the platform has seen a six-fold increase in the number of orders and a 200% improvement in the rate of timely payments.

About Ant Group

Ant Group is dedicated to using technology to bring the world equal opportunities. Our technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, security, Internet of Things and computing empower us and our ecosystem partners to serve the unbanked and underbanked, bringing more secure, transparent, cost-effective and inclusive financial services to individuals and small and micro-sized businesses worldwide.

Ant Group has formed international partnerships with global strategic partners to serve local users in those markets, and we serve Chinese travelers overseas by connecting Alipay with online and offline merchants. Brands under Ant Group include Alipay, Ant Fortune, MYbank, and WorldFirst.

About Ant Blockchain

Ant Blockchain is the largest productivity blockchain platform in China with the ability to process and support one billion user accounts and one billion transactions every day. It has topped the global ranking for blockchain patent applications for the past three consecutive years.¹

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¹ Based on research conducted by IPRDaily (2019, 2018, and 2017, in Chinese).