Apple Inc. officially put its first data center in China into operation this week, according to local media.

The data center was built in southwestern China's Guizhou Province jointly with a Chinese company with a contracted investment of $1 billion under a 2017 agreement with the provincial government, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Thursday.

The center, which started operating Tuesday, plans to offer iCloud services on the mainland, the report said, adding it is expected to further improve Chinese users' experience in terms of access speed and service reliability.

Fears are mounting, however, that Apple users in China might see their information leaked to the Communist-led government.

China in 2017 enforced a cybersecurity law amid concern that its authorities may compel foreign technology firms and governments to hand over locally stored data and encryption keys in the name of protecting security.

Guizhou has recently become the front-runner in China's big data industry, Xinhua said.

==Kyodo

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