Asia Pacific telecoms service provider Pacnet has scored a major deal worth up to 200 million Yuan (€21.9 million) to build and operate data centers in China.
The firm will construct and operate data centers for the municipal government of Chongqing, China, as part of the region’s effort to develop an international cloud computing hub.
Data centers will occupy almost a third of the land set aside for the hub, with Pacnet Business Solutions - an equity sharing joint venture with Zhong Ren Telecom - due to operate one center with at least 1,500 racks to provide cloud computing services.
Pacnet will also provide access to global submarine cable capacity to the Chongqing Cloud Computing Special Zone. The firm owns and operates EAC-C2C, Asia’s largest privately-owned submarine cable network.
Chongqing’s mayor, Huang Qifan, said the government will use Pacnet’s global abilities “to attract multinational companies,” to the region, which is aiming to become the main information technology hub in China. Those companies are essential to “further accelerate the economic growth in Chongqing,” he added.
The local government has allocated 1 billion Yuan to constructing the Cloud facility, with 200 million Yuan designated to cover data center construction.