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Apple opens China data center to comply with new law

Apple is building its first data center in China to comply with a new local law that requires foreign firms to store Chinese customer data within the country.
Written by Jake Smith, Contributor
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(Image: File photo)

Apple on Monday said it will open its first data center in China to comply with new cyber security laws enacted in June.

Apple is partnering with local data management firm Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry to build a data center to host iCloud services. It will build the center in the southern province of Guizhou, as part of a planned $1 billion investment into the province.

"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 in a statement to Reuters. "These regulations require cloud services be operated by Chinese companies so we're partnering with GCBD to offer iCloud."

Like all of Apple's data centers, the new Chinese operation will be powered by renewable energy. Chinese users' information will be moved to the new facility in the coming months.

The new cyber-security law that went into effect on June 1 requires foreign firms to store data within China. Apple told Reuters: "No backdoors will be created into any of our systems" for third parties.

Competitors Amazon and Microsoft already have data centers in China.

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