The state-owned sector still dominates the market. China’s data centers are concentrated in economically developed areas, and government bodies, telecommunication players and financial service providers are the major driving forces of the country’s data centers industry, according to a report released by a consulting company under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The report, Research on the Distribution Features and Development Strategy of China’s Data Centers, was published today by CCID Consulting, a consulting and intelligence service provider under China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute of MIIT, according to OFweek.

The report explores the development of China’s data center industry in terms of contextual background, influential factors and major trends. It analyzes the distribution features of data centers across the country.

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou driving the economy
It argues that regional economic development and IT outsourcing services spending is influencing the construction and development of data centers in this emerging market. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, driven by their economic strength and geographic advantage, have many more data centers and hence much more raised floor space.

The report also highlights that government bodies, telecommunication service providers and financial institutions are strong forces behind this booming market.

Demand for e-government platforms, public service platforms, contingency command platforms, backup and disaster recovery services, and high performance computing services, are the major driving forces for data centers constructed by government bodies. It is estimated that there are more than 150,000 government data centers totaling 5m sqm floor space across the country.

In the telecommunication industry, three large state-owned telecommunication operators (China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom) and large IDC service providers are the major players driving data center constructions.

Among them, China Telecom has up to 375 IDC data centers, 320 of which are used to serve external customers; China Unicom has 196 IDC data centers with a total floor space of 184,000 sqm; and China Mobile has a number of data centers totaling 105,000 sqm.

The 'Big Four' banks driving data centers
In the financial industry, the 'Big Four' state-owned banks (Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank) and joint stock banks with footprint across the country have built data centers in accordance with the principle of 'Three Centers in Two Places' and 98% of urban banks have set up production centers while 80% of them have set up disaster recovery centers.

The report points out that data centers are consolidating and upgrading, driven by new technologies including cloud computing, mobile internet and the internet of things. And they are becoming larger and emphasize energy efficiency.

It also says telecoms, IDC service providers and local governments are now working hard on developing cloud and big data businesses, bringing a new wave of investment for data centers.