Alliances can create special buildings to protect and expand their territory.
An alliance first needs to own sufficient donated resources, then select an unoccupied system to build their HQ inside. As time passes, alliance territory will gradually expand outwards from the HQ location.
Outposts can be built in other systems to more quickly expand alliance territory. Alliances can also build special defense systems in their territory that will attack enemies during alliance wars.
The number of alliance buildings that can be constructed depends on the level of your alliance.