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TechPolicy

Guangdong plans to build regional data centre in Shenzhen with coverage of Hong Kong and Macau

  • Guangdong province lays out Greater Bay Area data plans amid Beijing’s increasing scrutiny of data security and efforts to speed economic digitalisation
  • Lack of clarity on legal framework for data trading is hampering overall big data efforts though, experts say

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Guangdong’s policy plans come as data becomes increasingly important to China’s economic development, and as Beijing strengthens data security and privacy. Photo: Xinhua
Xinmei ShenandBobo Chan
China’s southern Guangdong province has tasked its tech hub Shenzhen with building a big data centre for the Greater Bay Area, which includes Hong Kong and Macau, to help the “orderly circulation” of data in the region, according to a data plan published by the Guangdong government on Sunday.
The provincial government also said that it will look into what it calls a Greater Bay Area “data custom”, which will be responsible for reviewing, evaluating and regulating cross-border data flow.
Data development plans involving the Greater Bay Area are slated for completion by the end of 2022, although the provincial government has not provided further details.

The city governments of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai will take the lead on big data efforts, the notice said, and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC)’s Guangdong provincial arm, along with other local government departments, will provide support. The scheme is part of a broad plan announced earlier by the Guangdong provincial government “to reform market-oriented data allocation as a production factor”.

People walk near the Tencent Holdings headquarters in Shenzhen. Guangdong province has tasked the tech hub with building a big data centre for the Greater Bay Area, which includes Hong Kong and Macau. Photo: Bloomberg
People walk near the Tencent Holdings headquarters in Shenzhen. Guangdong province has tasked the tech hub with building a big data centre for the Greater Bay Area, which includes Hong Kong and Macau. Photo: Bloomberg

Guangdong’s policy plans come as data becomes increasingly important to China’s economic development, and as Beijing strengthens data security and privacy. Chinese authorities are currently exploring how to create a viable data market that could help to unleash the economic potential of big data.

In April last year, the State Council added data as a new factor of production, along with land, labour and capital, with the goal that its circulation would help spur the economy’s digitalisation.

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