Guizhou sees sunny future in the cloud

Southwest China's Guizhou province is pinning its economic hopes on big data and cloud computing, local officials said on Thursday.

They hope to build Guiyang, the capital, into China's answer to India's high-tech hub of Bangalore.

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"Guizhou is one of the least-developed regions in China, but it meets all the conditions to become the largest big data and cloud computing base in the country," said Chen Gang, Party secretary of Guiyang.

Guizhou is one of the lowest ranked provincial administrations in terms of gross domestic product and GDP per capita.

But a temperate climate, sufficient power supply and well-developed transport networks will help the city lure data center and cloud computing projects, said Chen.

"Guiyang edges out other Chinese cities when attracting IT projects because of these advantages. That's a opportunity for us to boost high-tech industries," Chen added.

The nation's Big Three telecom carriers are building cloud computing facilities in Guiyang, with cumulative investment thus far exceeding 15 billion yuan ($2.5 billion).

Industry insiders said cloud computing could be an efficient economic driver for Guiyang and other inland regions.

The turnover of data analytics-related businesses in Guiyang is projected to hit 54 billion yuan by 2016, local data said. That would be equivalent to one-third of the total output of the city's information technology industry.

About 200 big data companies are expected to be operating in the city by then, with more than 5,000 staff, it said.

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