Huawei launches Guizhou data center

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, one of the world's largest telecom equipment markers, launched its data center project in southwestern China's Guizhou province on Wednesday, responding to the company's growing need to build facilities that store online data and support global services.

The move is part of a deal Huawei signed with the Guizhou provincial government last November and came as the technology juggernaut intensifies resources to compete globally.

The first phase of the new data center is located in Guian New Area in Guizhou province. Covering 400,000 square meters, it will operate around 600,000 servers to store Huawei's global management data.

"Guizhou province offers an ideal climate for operating data centers. It is also an important energy base in China, alongside its favorable data center polices. Taking these advantages, we aim to build an industrial park, which serves as a global management data storage center and a base to train the talents," said Ren Shulu, Huawei's senior vice-president.

The Shenzhen-based firm said around 600 to 800 IT service engineers will maintain the server system and then be sent overseas to support its global services. It also plans to use the center to train selected employees.

Last November, Huawei and the Guizhou provincial government signed a cooperation agreement to work on internet of things technology, construction of a smart city, intelligent manufacturing, and the application of big data and cloud computing.

The company said the cooperation may save as much as $100 million annually in electricity charges, due to the lower cost of energy.

Rolling out a range of preferential policies for the big data application and development, Guizhou province is becoming a new big data hub. Last month, Apple Inc announced it would open its first China data center in Guizhou province, which is part of a $1 billion investment in the area and will be operated by a local data management company.

James Yan, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said he was optimistic about the prospects for the center's future development, as it will benefit greatly from the local government's supportive polices and big investment.