Guiyang looks to new tech for growth

Cloud computing will become a new "pillar industry" for Guiyang, a city known for Soviet-era military industries such as fighter plane manufacturing, local officials have said.

"We hope to introduce more big data companies to the city in the coming years. The multi-million-yuan cloud computing infrastructures Guiyang is building will become the backbone of the emerging big data industry," said Mao Youbi, deputy mayor of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province.

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The southwestern province turned to high-tech industries to boost its economy this year. The nation's Big Three telecom carriers agreed last year to set up regional data centers in Guiyang because of its cheaper land and power prices.

"Although developed regions such as Beijing and Shanghai still hold some technology advantages, Guiyang could become a major regional hub in the big data segment because it is the only province that has a clear development blueprint in the sector," said Zhao Guodong, secretary of Zhongguancun Cloud Computing Industry Alliance, a Beijing-based industry association.

"Guiyang may also lead the country's statistics analytics service if local officials have an open-minded vision in data disclosure," Zhao said, adding that turnover of China's big data market is more than 10 times greater than that of the United States.

Guiyang was a long-time research and design base for the People's Liberation Army. The city's heavy industry has largely depended on military related factories since the 1960s.

"I am optimistic about the cloud computing and big data industries in China because of high smartphone penetration rate in the country," Zhao said.

China is the world's largest buyer of smartphones and had roughly 500 million mobile Internet users by 2013.

Close to 95 percent of mobile phones sold in China will be smart devices by 2017, said research firm Canalys.