This article originally appeared on ABACUS Google is planning to launch its Drive and Docs products in China, adding to a growing list of services it wants to offer in the world’s biggest internet market. Bloomberg reports that the company has been in talks with Chinese internet giant Tencent and others to help it deliver those services through Chinese-based servers, according to people familiar with the situation. Apple’s iCloud change in China isn’t a change at all. Here’s why. Under Chinese law, data must be held on domestically-run servers. Apple has a similar arrangement with a local firm to house Chinese iCloud data . The move would mark quite a shift for Google, which has largely been absent from China since it pulled its search engine in 2010. Just last week it was also reported the company is considering launching a censored version of its search app there . But the absence of its search engine in the country doesn’t mean the company hasn’t been making inroads there. Earlier this year it opened an artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing. It also hosted a competition that pitted its own AI technology against the world’s top human Go players . It’s even launched its own mini-game on Tencent’s popular social network WeChat . For more insights into China tech, sign up for our tech newsletters , subscribe to our Inside China Tech podcast , and download the comprehensive 2019 China Internet Report . Also roam China Tech City , an award-winning interactive digital map at our sister site Abacus .
