On Saturday, reports said that Apple plans to open its first China data center in 2020. Now it looks like Apple will have two centers operable by that date.
The official Xinhua news agency, citing local government, says the second center will be built in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north. As Apple’s first data center in north China, it would commence operation in 2020 and offer iCloud services on the Chinese mainland. Last year, Apple set up a data center in the southern province of Guizhou, its first in China, to comply with the tougher cyber-security laws.
The first facility, which will be entirely driven by renewable energy, will be built and run in partnership with Guizhou on the Cloud Big Data. The center is part of Apple’s planned $1 billion investment the southern province of Guizhou.
The tech giant is also setting up its first R&D center in China in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park. The center has a registered capital of approximately US$14.994 million and will hire a total of 500 employees. It will focus “on the development of computer software and hardware products, communication, audio and video devices, as well as advanced technologies for consumer electronics products and the information industry.”
