Apple to operate Chinese iCloud accounts at new data centre in China

In a move to increase transparency and make inroads into China, the first data centre of the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple in the country will be put into operation on February 28, the company announced on Wednesday.

From then on, photos, documents and other personal information uploaded to iCloud accounts by Apple customers in China will be stored at a database in southwest China's Guizhou Province, Xinhua news agency reported.

The iPhone maker will start informing its Chinese iCloud users from Wednesday with data transferred and uploaded to the new database automatically.

The move is aiming to increase transparency and offer Chinese customers a safer and more fluent experience of iCloud, the company was quoted as saying.

Apple announced the constructing of the new database in Guizhou last July, with an investment of $1 billion.

Other major technology companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, have also made similar deals to run data centres in China.

Apple's gets most of its products manufactured in China and also sources its best electronics engineers from the there.