Huang Qifan (central), mayor of Chongqing municipality, visits the e-government exhibition hall of the China Unicom's Southwest Data Center in Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, on June 19. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

The second-stage project of China Unicom's Southwest Data Center in Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, got go-ahead with a foundation-laying ceremony on June 19.

The project, with an estimated investment value of about 1 billion yuan ($161 million), is located in the Liangjiang International Cloud Computing Industrial Park and covers an area of 3.3 hectares. Upon its completion, it will be able to accommodate 30,000 servers.

China Unicom started to invest in Liangjiang in 2011. The first-stage project of the data center was put into operation in February 2014.

The commencement ceremony of the second-stage project of China Unicom's Southwest Data Center is held in Liangjiang, Chongqing on June 19. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

The data center mainly provides Internet data center (IDC) hosting and large data storage services to clients from all around the world. It also supports the industrial park's communication infrastructure and ensures an efficient and secure computing network interconnection.

China Unicom is a Chinese State-owned telecommunications operator and the world's third-biggest mobile provider. Building a data center in Liangjiang will strongly improve Chongqing's network infrastructure and promote the development of local big data industry, said Guo Jian, director of Chongqing's committee of economy and information, at the commencement ceremony.

A rendering image of China Unicom’s new data center in Liangjiang, Chongqing. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

Edited by Mevlut Katik