By Yang Min

Guizhou has become the front runner of China's big data industry as the growth of the province's digital economy has ranked first in China for six consecutive years.

Statistics from the Big Data Development Administration of Guizhou Province shows that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), the province's digital economy accounted for 29.5 percent of its GDP, ranking 14th across China.

Meanwhile, Guizhou's big data development index ranked third in the country and the scale of its digital economy ranked 18th nationwide.

In recent years, Guizhou has been working overtime to boost the development of its big data industry and has attracted considerable investment from home and abroad.

In February 2019, Guizhou was jointly approved by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Development and Reform Commission to establish China's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone.

"Enterprises like Chinese high-tech giant Huawei leverage Guizhou's rich resources and ideal climate to lower costs and fuel growth," according to Hu Zhijie, a staff member of the Big Data Development Service Center of Guian New Zone Industry Development Bureau.

Located in Southwest China, Guizhou enjoys a temperate climate, with an average summer temperature of 23C, which is ideal for keeping data servers cool and maintaining safe operations.

Boasting abundant water and coal, Guizhou can provide stable electricity supply and competitive rates for big data enterprises.

Taking the Guian New Zone, the host site of Huawei's big data center with a planned accommodation capacity of 400,000 servers, as an example, it provides a discounted electricity rate of 0.35 yuan per 1 kilowatt hour compared with 0.5 yuan per kWh in other areas.

"For data centers consuming more than 100 million kWh per year and with electricity fees accounting for 80 percent to 90 percent of their annual operation, it's a huge cost saving." Hu added.

Buoyed by supportive government policies, Guizhou has now attracted a number of heavyweight players, such as Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba and Foxconn to establish their cloud computing and big data centers.

Currently, Guizhou has 23 key data centers in operation or under construction in its capital city Guiyang, Guian New Zone and Qianxinan Buoyei and Miao autonomous prefecture.

Moving forwards, Guizhou plans to have 4 million servers; and by 2022, the added value of the province's digital economy is estimated to account for 33 percent of its GDP.