How one of China’s poorest provinces is morphing into a world-class hi-tech hub

The global spotlight will be on Guizhou as operations of Apple’s iCloud service in China are handed over to a data centre operator in the rural province

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A visitor tests a virtual reality device at the International Big Data Expo in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province in southwest China. One of the country’s poorest provinces, Guizhou is being transformed into a world-class hi-tech hub. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:00pm, 11 Jan 2018Updated: 10:49am, 1 Feb 2018

Guizhou province in southwestern China may be under the radar in terms of hi-tech development, but that could soon change when Apple turns over the domestic operations of its iCloud service next month to a data centre operator based in this rural area.

Apple said it will transfer on February 28 the storage and handling of photos, documents, messages and video of its iCloud customers in China to local partner Guizhou on the Cloud Big Data (GCBD), according to an emailed statement to affected users obtained by online news site 9to5Mac on Wednesday.

That followed Apple’s announcement in July last year of a partnership with GCBD to establish its first data centre in China, which forms part of the US technology company’s US$1 billion investment programme in Guizhou.

While that infrastructure project was drawn up to comply with China’s Cybersecurity Law, it also showed how Apple and other major hi-tech companies have shown their support for Beijing’s goal to turn the poor and mostly mountainous province into a world-class hi-tech location.

“For the past few years, Guizhou has put on an annual International Big Data Industry Expo to highlight its new role as a big data hub in China,” said Jabez Tan, research director at Toronto-based Structure Research, in an interview.