Tencent to invest over $1.4b in Yizheng

Tencent Holdings Ltd signs an investment project, worth over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), with Yangzhou on Oct 19. [Photo/yznews.cn]

An investment project, worth over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), was signed by Tencent Holdings Ltd and Yangzhou on Oct 19 to build a cloud data center in Yangzhou's satellite city Yizheng.

With investment from Tencent Holdings Ltd, on the Fortune Global 500 list and China's biggest internet company, the center is designed to cover an area of 350 mu (23.3 hectares) and be of strategic significance to Tencent's business operations in eastern China.

Tencent Cloud, integrating Tencent's infrastructure building capabilities with the advantages of its massive-user platform and ecosystem, provides comprehensive services including network protection, intrusion detection and vulnerability protection.

The investment project in Yizheng is expected to attract a batch of companies related to big data to settle in the city and facilitate the upgrading of the local digital landscape.

Xia Xinmin, acting mayor of Yangzhou, said over 620 internet companies have settled in Yangzhou such as Microsoft and Huawei. The software and information service industry has become a driving force for Yangzhou's economic development, maintaining a growth rate of 50 percent in recent years.

Xi Dan, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Tencent, said the company will carry out further cooperation with Yangzhou in many fields such as the construction of a smart city and talents cultivation to boost Yangzhou's innovative development.