China's first demonstration city for open government data, the first big data industrial development cluster, and the first key laboratory of big data strategy, all of these achievements happened in one place, where previously one could only think of the mountainous landscape or the famous Moutai spirit. 

That's southwest China's Guizhou Province.

According to a white paper on digital economy issued by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), the province ranked first in China in the growth rate of digital economy for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018, and also topped the country in the growth rate of employment provided by digital economy last year.

Meanwhile, Guizhou has accomplished the deep integration of big data with real economy, industry, agriculture and service industry, promoting the transformation and upgrading of related industries.

In 2018, the total revenue of software and information technology services in Guizhou reached 34.85 billion yuan (about five billion U.S. dollars), with a year-on-year growth of 31.8 percent. The total volume of telecommunications services was 19.12 billion yuan, up 165.5 percent year on year, and the revenue of teleservices was 29.82 billion yuan, a 10.1-percent year-on-year increase, which has become an important factor supporting its GDP growth. 

However, Guizhou was once a place you would never relate to big data.

Located in the east of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Guizhou is the only province in China that does not have a plain. The average elevation of the area is more than 1,100 meters, with 92.5 percent of the terrain being mountains and hills. The province also suffered from impoverishment. In 2009, Guizhou's GDP accounted for only one percent of the country's total, and its per capita GDP was only one-third of the national average.

Dramatic changes in half a decade

Changes started to happen when Guizhou gave full play to its comparative advantages and started to develop strategic emerging industries, and optimized its industrial structure.

In 2012, the State Council issued several guidelines on further promoting a sound, rapid economic and social development of Guizhou, which clearly put forward the construction of information network facilities, and development of strategic emerging industries such as electronics and new-generation information technology, which echoes what the fourth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee put forward this year stating that systems and mechanisms for scientific and technological innovation should be improved to build a higher-level open economy.

Guizhou has embraced a burgeoning industrial development ever since. The number of big-data-relevant enterprises in the province has soared from less than 1,000 in 2013 to 9,551 in 2018. It has attracted world-renowned tech companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and domestic big data giants including Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent, and Baidu. And a batch of local enterprises such as BaishanCloud, and Longmaster has been taking off.

In the first half of 2018, Guizhou's economy led the country with a 10-percent growth rate, making it the only province in China to achieve a double-digit growth.

Why Guizhou?

It was 2013 when big data overwhelming impact started to spread. In that year, the market size of cloud computing in China was over six billion U.S. dollars, nearly three times that in 2010. The total trade volume of e-commerce in China was 9.9 trillion yuan (about 1.4 U.S. dollars), up 21.3 percent year on year. The number of internet users in China reached 618 million, with internet penetration rate of 45.8 percent. The number of mobile internet users continued to grow.

The market demand for data centers is urgent.

Guizhou, firstly, has an innate strength to be shaped into a big data center – favorable climate.

The average temperature there is around 16 degrees Celsius, which is much cooler compared to other provinces. The cool temperature is conducive to the servers' operation and further reduces the operating cost of the data center.

Stable geological structure with low disaster risk is also a favorable condition. 

Electricity is an important basis for industrial development in the era of big data. A data center is usually electricity-guzzling. As the main contributor in the country's west-east electricity transmission, Guizhou has stable and reliable electric power supplies mainly from thermal and water power, and relatively cheaper electricity prices.

Accelerating the construction of infrastructure is another factor for the rapid development of Guizhou's big data industry.

In 2012, Guizhou launched a "three-year battle" to realize its highway construction. By the end of 2015, all 88 counties and urban areas in the province had access to expressways, with a total length open to traffic of 5,128 kilometers, connecting Guizhou with the outside world more closely and efficiently.

It has also developed its "internet highway." Guizhou has achieved 100-percent coverage of fiber optic broadband and 4G network in all administrative villages by 2017, and the outbound bandwidth of the Internet has increased from 325G in 2010 to 9130G in 2018, an increase of 28 times in eight years.

Moreover, the province fully enjoys policy supports, like funds, resources, and talents, just to name a few.

Guizhou put forward to increasing financial support, broadening financing channels, and setting up special funds for the big data industry. It launched scientific land planning to ensure the land supply for big data industry projects. It also lays great emphasis on talent introduction and promotes deep cooperation between universities and industrial enterprises and research institutes.

To ensure sound development and data safety, the province has specifically launched related regulations and rules, taking the development into a legal track.

In the future, Guizhou will continue to focus on big data in-depth development, to contribute to both the province's economic and social development and the full implementation of the national big data strategy. For cutting-edge applications such as 5G, Guiyang, the provincial capital and one of the 5G pilot cities in Guizhou, has sped up its 5G research by establishing an innovation lab and center. By 2022, Guizhou is expected to fully commercialize 5G.