Empty data centres mushroom in China's far-flung provinces

The ideal location of a data centre is within 80 km of its core users, experts say. Pic for illustration only. — Elias Sch./Pixabay

BEIJING: Remote Chinese provinces are building more data centres in deserts and isolated valleys to house powerful computers and servers, but with users scarce, many risk becoming high-tech ghost towns and digital bridges to nowhere.

Beijing is set to spend more than US$400bil (RM1.71tril) this year on high-tech infrastructure, including data centres, as part of efforts to revive an economy hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic.