China to subsidize cloud computing providers

China is considering subsidizing local cloud computing providers in a bid to boost the growth of the sector, a government official said on Friday.

"The government plans to give Chinese cloud computing players financial and regulatory support very soon as cloud computing technology is poised to become a major driver for the nation's information technology industry," Zhou Zixue, chief economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the China (Huhhot) Cloud Computing Expo on Friday in Huhhot, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Zhou did not disclose the budget of the possible subsidies.

The government will also implement new industry regulations and is set to highlight the information security rules, he added.