February 7, 2018

Apple set for data center expansion in China

The expansion seeks to build a second data center in the region for iCloud services after building the first one in Guizhou

Telecom giant

U.S tech giant Apple have announced that they will be building their second data center in the city of Ulanqab, China to provide iCloud services. With this expansion, Apple will strengthen their data center presence in China, which is known to have particularly stringent regulations concerning data security.

Apple say that the offerings of the second data center will complement the first data center which is still under construction in the Guizhou province of South-West China. In addition to this, they also revealed that they are yet to narrow down the partner for the new data center.

Explaining this a spokesperson for Apple commented:

Apple Inc., the United States tech giant, will build a data center in Ulanqab City in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, after its first data center in southwestern Guizhou Province, the local government has announced.

According to Apple, the Chinese government has allowed foreign players to do business in the country by upgrading certain business regulations. They further added that this change was evident when their Guizhou data center deal that happened last summer.

Industry analysts opine that Apple’s decision to build the data center at Ulanqab is strategic in nature since the territory is already enabled with tech facilities supporting cloud infrastructure.

In closing, Apple revealed that they plan to open both the data centers by the middle of 2020.