Apple will finally open a new data center in China within two years. And it is that since last year 2017, the new legislation obliges companies to operate the data of Chinese users within the country itself. Said and done, against this Apple can do nothing. And from next year 2020 the data stored in your iCloud service will be managed within your own country on your own servers thanks to a new data center.
The investment in this project has been 1.000 million dollars (just over 800 million euros). Construction work will begin this year 2018 and it will be housed in Guizhou province. Furthermore, all stored data will be operated by a local partner: Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry. Apple has already commented that as of the end of February, all the data stored in iCloud (photos, videos, documents or any backup of our computer) will be subject to the conditions of use of this partner in China.
Also, Apple wants to strengthen its stay in China. What's more, it already has several research and development centers spread throughout the country. In turn, while this data center gets up and running and to avoid getting your fingers caught in the new regulations, Apple will rent local servers to be able to manage all the data that Chinese users have in the iCloud service, as well as to offer the necessary space for users to make use of this cloud-based service.
Starting next February 28, Apple will send emails to users with the new conditions and terms that the user must accept in order to continue using iCloud in China; otherwise, access will be denied. In addition, those of Cupertino facilitate the power change country of residence if you finally do not reside in Mainland China.