Zoom optimistic about growth in Asia Pacific despite weaker outlook

Zoom is “doubling down” on its technical investments in the Asia-Pacific region as it seeks to strengthen growth, said the video communications company on Friday. 

There’s “lots of activity happening in Asia, across all of APAC. We made a strong commitment about two years ago to really turn on the speed and step on the gas,” Abe Smith, Zoom’s head of international, told “Squawk Box Asia.”

“Whether it’s here in Singapore, where we have a full data center … [or] in India, an effort forward with a R&D center in both Chennai and Bangalore.” 

That’s in spite of headwinds the company has been facing in the post-pandemic era as more people return to the office and business trips resume. 

Shares of Zoom fell about 45% in the past year.

However, Smith said Zoom is “extremely optimistic” about the growth of its phone product in Asia Pacific.

Zoom’s cloud based phone solution — which offers services like unlimited domestic calls, SMS messaging and call recording — now makes up 10% of its revenue, he added.  

“That product grew over 100% year over year, it represents more than five and a half million seats today,” said Smith.

“We’re going to deliver a limitless human connection … across a myriad of products … that allow people to connect and communicate with flexibility and by choice.” 

The company also recently announced its expansion of Zoom IQ, an AI feature that summarizes chat threads and whiteboard sessions.

“AI is who we are … the intelligence in the platform has always existed from day one,” Smith added. 

“If you’re experiencing a Zoom meeting and use something as simple as a virtual background, you’re experiencing AI. If at a meeting, you want to suppress that barking dog, [using] noise suppression in the background, that’s AI.”