Rumors of a second Apple data center in China get louder

According to the official Xinhua news agency (Xinhua News Agency or New China News Agency), Apple will build its second data center in China in Ulanqab City, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Citing an announcement from the local government, the news agency reports that the facility will go into operation in 2020 and will help Apple offer iCloud services to mainland China customers.

The agency cited an agreement between Apple and the local government to report that the project will use 100% renewable energy sources.

Apple announced its first data center in China in July last year, which will be located in Guizhou.

Around the same time last year, Huawei also announced it had signed a deal with the Guizhou provincial government to build a new data center in the region.

Huawei's data center will house around 600,000 across 400,000 square meters.

Huawei's agreement with the local government is a part of an initiative to transform the region into a 'data hub', which will no doubt be pushed along by the arrival of Apple's Guizhou data center.