Big data expo puts Guizhou under world spotlight

Province to develop innovative, digital economy and become a role model for future industry

The latest 5G technology and the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world's largest radio telescope, were two of the highlights of the 2018 China International Big Data Expo held in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province from Saturday to Tuesday.

The global event exhibited 51 cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements and more than 1,000 cutting-edge products and technologies.

Held for the forth time since 2015, the expo attracted a record 47,000 representatives, including 536 overseas attendees from 28 countries and 388 big data companies to exhibit, according to Sun Zhigang, secretary of CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of Guizhou Provincial People's Congress.

President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a congratulatory letter to the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018.

China attaches great importance to the development of big data, Xi said.

The Chinese president said he expects expo attendees to exchange views and pool wisdom in order to promote the big data sector's innovative development to benefit all people and facilitate the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, according to a report from Xinhua.

Sun said that Guizhou has been focusing on the development of big data and attracting a large number of big data enterprises, high-tech enterprises and various kinds of talents from home and abroad, making great achievements on the integration of big data and real economy.

Guizhou Huaxintong Semiconductor Technology Co, a joint venture between the United States chip major Qualcomm and the Guizhou provincial government, exhibited the application of the first-generation server chip to the public at the expo, according to Cristiano R. Amon, president of the Qualcomm.

He said that the first-generation server chip has been built using the advanced chip manufacturing process with an accuracy of 10 nanometers and can be applied to high-performance computers to handle large amounts of data.

In addition, the joint venture has begun the development on a second-generation server chip.

"We aim to improve the competitiveness of the big data industry in Guizhou and promote the development of the integrated circuit industry in China, and Qualcomm will continue to provide technology and funds for the big data industry development in Guizhou province," Amon said.

Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, said that Guizhou province has been firmly developing its big data industry and has taken a leading position in promoting the construction of the national big data demonstration center in Guiyang in recent years.

Guizhou has established an innovative way to develop digital economy and made the data expo a role model for the big data industry, he added.

The inauguration ceremony of the Apple iCloud China (Gui'an) Data Center Project was held in Guian New Area on Friday.

This is the first data center for Apple Inc in China, as the United States tech giant steps up efforts to meet local consumers' growing demand for iCloud services.

Apple will invest a total of $1 billion in the project and the data center will be operated by Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co Ltd, an enterprise owned by the Guizhou provincial government. Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry will also become the sole operating partner of Apple's iCloud service on the Chinese mainland.

Ge Yue, vice president of Apple and managing director of Apple China, said that it was an important decision to develop big data in Guizhou and as the first data center for Apple to set up in China, it proves the important partnership between the company and Guizhou province.

She added that Guizhou province has helped a lot in the data center's establishment, and Apple will promote greater cooperation with the Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry to make contributions to big data development in Guizhou province.

Li Zaiyong, a member of the standing committee of the CPC Guizhou provincial committee and Guizhou's executive deputy governor, said that Guizhou has more than 8,900 big data enterprises with a total output value exceeding 110 billion yuan ($17.22 billion ).

Guizhou province announced 100 key investment projects at the third round of the big data with real economy business-to-business match meeting on Saturday, with a total investment of 168.86 billion yuan.

The projects involve various sectors of the real economy.

How the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope works is demonstrated at the expo.

Visitors experience virtual reality technologies at the 2018 China International Big Data Expo held in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province. Photos By Yang Jun / China Daily