Merging cloud, big data and smart cities

In 2013, the Big Three telecom carriers agreed to build regional data centers in Guiyang because of the cheaper land and power prices.

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"Guiyang may also lead the country's statistics analytics service if local officials have an open-minded vision in data disclosure," says Zhao, adding that the turnover of China's big data market is more than 10 times bigger than that of the US, without revealing actual numbers.

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

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

Similar developments are taking place in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The local government has said that it plans to build the largest cloud computing industry park in China by equipping 2 to 3 million servers before 2015. Hohhot, its capital city, is building nine major data centers for cloud services with investment exceeding 70 billion yuan ($11.3 billion).

In Yangquan, Shanxi province, online search giant Baidu Inc's 76 million yuan data center started operations in March.

Analysts believe that apart from favorable operation costs, the natural environment is another critical reason for these regions winning data center projects.

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