Apple Build Data Center in China

Data Center in China

Apple Inc. will become the first foreign company to adjust its data-storage method since Chinas new cybersecurity law took effect， as the company plans to build its first data center in the country in a partnership with Guizhou province.

The California-headquartered tech giant will build the data center in the southern province of Guizhou as part of a regional investment valued at $1 billion， an Apple spokesperson said.

Cybersecurity regulations implemented June 1 require foreign companies that handle Chinese data to store that information on equipment physically located within the country.

In Apples case， the company said its working with a Chinese tech firm， Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co Ltd （GCBD）， in order to provide its iCloud remote storage service to local customers in compliance with the law.

“The addition of this data center will allow us to improve the speed and reliability of our products and services while also complying with newly passed regulations，” Apple said.

“These regulations require cloud services be operated by Chinese companies so were partnering with GCBD to offer iCloud.”

Apple is the first foreign company to announce steps aimed at adhering to Chinas new regulations since its implementation last month， though Amazon and Microsoft opened data centers there prior to the legislation.

The move makes Apple the first foreign company to adjust its data-storage method since Chinas new cybersecurity law took effect on June 1， which forbids all personal information and business data collected in China to be stored on servers outside the country.

Concerns about Privacy

State-owned data-managing firm Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co. Ltd （GCBD） will operate the new data center and Apples iCloud service on the Chinese mainland， Apple said. The data center will be used to store photos， videos and other information that Chinese users upload to their iCloud accounts.

To address concerns about privacy，Apple stressed it has “strong data privacy and security protections in place，”and promised that “no backdoors will be created into any of our systems.”

Apple also aims to enhance its product and service quality on the mainland via localized storage. Building the data center will significantly improve Chinese iCloud users experience by reducing delays while raising reliability， said Lisa Jackson， the companys vice president of environment， policy and social initiatives.endprint

China became Apples second- largest market in the second quarter of 2015， when the country contributed$16.8 billion to the California-based companys revenue. China remained in that position until the third quarter of 2016， when Apple reported that its China revenue fell to just $8.8 billion for the last three months of the year， according to the news site Quartz.

Located in the southwestern province of Guizhou， the data center is part of a $1 billion investment project laid out in a strategic cooperation agreement that Apple signed with the Guizhou provincial government.

“This is the largest investment and most influential project since Guizhou adopted the strategy to develop big-data technology，” said Ma Ningyu， the provincial governments deputy secretarygeneral and director of the provinces big-data bureau.

The data center will be entirely powered renewable energy， like all of Apples data centers around the world. It is expected to be the first such data center powered completely by green energy sources in China， Ma added.

Apple said it selected Guizhou province “after careful study.” As the first big-data pilot zone in China， authorities have been providing favorable policies and financial support to the big-data sector in recent years， attracting technology giants such as Alibaba Group， Qualcomm Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to invest in the province.

Guizhou also hosted this years China International Big Data Expo in May.

Apple will register a brick-and- mortar company in the province to provide technology support for GCBD. The pair will jointly set up the main data center inside a national-level economic zone in the province called Guian New Area.

Several major companies， including Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Foxconn Technology Group， have already built data centers in the economic zone， which was established in 2014 by the central government.

Chinas Stricter Cyber-Security Law

Chinas new Cyber-Security Law was issued in 2016， with the government downplaying suggestions that the new law would be used to drive foreign technology and products out of the Chinese market. One beneficial aspect of the new law is that it provides a tighter definition of critical information infrastructure， making it less likely that the operations of foreign-invested enterprises in China will be caught by strict implementation of the new law.endprint

Chinas new Cyber-Security Law took effect on 1 June 2017. It was approved by the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress on 7 November 2016， following a third reading.

The draft of the Cyber-Security Law was first released to the public for consultation in July 2015. A second draft was released for public consultation a year later in July 2016， which was followed by a third reading by NPC in October 2016. The drafts have provoked controversies among foreign organizations and businesses， and generated concern over the vagueness of text and suspected protectionism.

The final Cyber-Security Law contains many of the same provisions as in the previously circulated drafts， including the requirement that personal data and key business data collected and generated via critical information infrastructure （CII） must be stored in the PRC.

Operated on Renewable Energy

All of Apples data centers are operated on renewable energy， and thats a goal Apple is chasing for all its facilities. About 96 percent of Apples facilities worldwide are now run on renewable energy， the company said.

Data centers tend to be the most power hungry tech facilities， and electricity requirements go up as computing moves into the cloud. As servers are saddled with more tasks， the processing requirements go up. As a result， more heat is generated， and Apple has found an innovative way to recycle heat.

Many data centers find ways to recycle heat， while others let the resource go waste. Amazon recycles heat to warm up offices nearby， and other companies recycle the heat to generate hot water.

Iceland and the Scandinavian countries are hot spots to establish data centers because of naturally cool weather and easy availability of hydropower.endprint