Order a bowl of Changwang noodles, sprinkle on some crispy pork rinds, and soak up the pleasant climate of “Refreshing Guiyang,” where the average temperature is 15°C.

In the past, Guiyang didn’t attract much attention. But now that it’s in the spotlight, it has shattered those stereotypes.

While the eastern coastal regions have long shouldered half the burden of China’s manufacturing sector, the “China Big Data Center” has taken root in the southwest.

As the “server room of the internet,” Guiyang’s big data industry has emerged as a rising star, attracting enterprises in electronics, information technology, and smart manufacturing to cluster and develop here.

It must be said that with the free flow of production factors, labor can seek work anywhere, and enterprises can relocate freely.

High-quality projects from the Pearl River Delta region can just as easily be “poached” by Guiyang through investment promotion.

A New Perspective: Turning Cold Resources into a Booming Industry

Since 2014, big data has been consistently included in government work reports. Since then, localities across the country have rolled out relevant policies to boost the big data industry.

Data does not simply float in cyberspace; it requires analysis and storage to be preserved, and data centers are the facilities where vast amounts of data are stored.

It can be said that the development of the big data industry has made data centers indispensable. As one of the development hubs in Southwest China, Guiyang has become the region with the fastest-growing data center sector.

As a leader in big data centers, why has Guiyang seized the opportunity to challenge the status of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou?

“The sky is never clear for three days, and the land is never flat for three miles”—this is the impression most people have of Guiyang.

Today, the stable karst terrain makes it an ideal location for data backup centers; the cool, low-sun climate allows data centers to save 10% to 30% on electricity; and the fresh, high-quality air extends server lifespan and enhances stability.

Furthermore, Guiyang’s complex topography has created abundant water resources. These resources also allow data centers to adopt water-cooling systems, reducing electricity consumption associated with air conditioning.

All these factors share a common thread: cost efficiency. Whether it’s natural cooling or protection against dust and corrosion, the goal is to minimize expenses.

Land prices, needless to say, are much lower in Guizhou compared to the eastern coastal regions, making it highly suitable for investing in data centers that require large land areas.

From this perspective, what were once perceived as resource disadvantages have been transformed into industrial advantages, and “cool resources” have become a “hot industry.” In the era of the digital economy, Guiyang has truly begun to “shine.”

The tech giants that have set up shop here include household names known worldwide: Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and even Apple has followed suit to establish a foothold here.

Guiyang has charted an innovative path distinct from both the eastern regions and other western provinces, emerging as a national hub for the big data industry.

Electronic Information: Riding the Wave of Industrial Relocation

As land and labor costs continue to rise, a wave of relocation has swept through the Pearl River Delta’s manufacturing sector.

In particular, the electronics and information technology sector is shifting from “labor-intensive” to “capital- and technology-intensive,” with a clear trend of relocation from the eastern regions to the central and western regions.

Raw material prices are rising, payments haven’t come in yet, profits are shrinking, and leases are expiring… Some companies in the Pearl River Delta feel at a loss and are considering relocating.

Take Shenzhen as an example: electronics and information technology companies require large floor spaces, with factory rents ranging from tens of yuan per square meter; for larger manufacturing enterprises, monthly rent “easily” exceeds ten thousand yuan.

Factory rents and land prices are becoming increasingly "unaffordable," posing a significant burden.

Furthermore, in 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guidance Catalog for Industrial Relocation," which proposed that the eastern regions should take the lead in industrial transformation and upgrading, actively accept the relocation of high-end international industries, and promote the transfer of traditional industries to central and western regions.

Many enterprises have aligned with this major industrial shift, relocating more manufacturing operations to Guizhou to jointly build a complete industrial cluster with integrated upstream, midstream, and downstream supply chains, thereby establishing a collaborative model of “Guangdong R&D, Guizhou production.”

In 2020, Guizhou proposed the implementation of the “Strengthening the Provincial Capital” initiative. In recent years, Guiyang has been deeply integrated into the national strategic initiative of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, continuously conveying the region’s “positive development message” to enterprises in the Greater Bay Area.

As the core area for Guiyang’s electronics and information industry, Guanshanhu has focused on its leading industries and flagship enterprises to attract investment across the entire industrial chain. It has made every effort to attract various enterprises to invest, establish operations, and set up bases locally, fostering competitive industries and creating a vibrant landscape where distinct sectors thrive in competition.

“The Reception Hall of Central Guizhou · Beautiful Guanshanhu.” This is not merely a city’s calling card; it is a prime investment destination.

Located in the northwestern part of Guiyang, Guanshanhu District is bordered by the Qianling Mountains to the east, connected to Yunyan and Huaxi Districts to the south, adjacent to Gui’an New Area and Qingzhen City to the west, and bordering Baiyun District to the north. It serves as a vital gateway for Guizhou’s opening to the outside world and functions as a political, economic, cultural, financial, and transportation hub.

Situated at the heart of the “Central Guizhou Economic Zone,” it is home to Guiyang North Station—the largest comprehensive railway hub in Southwest China—which serves multiple high-speed rail lines including the Guiyang-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Kunming, and Chengdu-Guiyang routes. Additionally, it is just a 35-minute drive from Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport, forming an 8-hour transportation circle with numerous cities across the country.

The Guanshanhu Modern Manufacturing Industrial Park serves as the “main hub” for the development of Guanshanhu District’s industrial economy and is the industrial cluster within Guizhou’s first Modern Service Industry Pilot Zone. Located in the southwestern part of Guanshanhu District, it covers a planned area of approximately 30 square kilometers.

The park has attracted a range of renowned enterprises, including Geely Automobile, Panpan Foods, Zhong'an Electric, and JD.com, covering industries such as automobile manufacturing, eco-friendly specialty foods, electronic information manufacturing, and advanced equipment manufacturing.

Located in the western part of Guanshanhu District is the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industrial Park, comprising two separate zones: the North Park and the South Park. The North Park serves as the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industrial Park with a floor area of 350,000 square meters, while the South Park functions as the Smart Manufacturing Industrial Park with a floor area of 226,000 square meters.

Currently, the park is focused on establishing electronic information as its leading industry, aiming to create a vibrant, eco-friendly, smart technology park that integrates production, R&D, office space, and entertainment, and striving to become a benchmark for the electronic information manufacturing industry cluster in Guanshanhu District.

In addition to standard factory buildings, the industrial park offers customized, one-stop spatial solutions for enterprises in the smart manufacturing and electronic information sectors.

Targeting the pain points and needs of enterprises, the park is designed to meet high-standard factory requirements in terms of floor area, ceiling height, load capacity, and elevators.

Featuring an open-plan design with lifting platforms and unloading platforms reserved on each floor, these industrial facilities represent the current market standard.

Industrial Relocation: A Seamless and Orderly Transition

Industrial relocation is not always a smooth and seamless process; guiding the orderly establishment of industries during the transition remains a pressing challenge.

First, enterprises face the dilemma of declining “visible costs” and rising “hidden costs.”

Although labor costs are lower in inland regions and transportation conditions have improved, the distance from supporting enterprises, coupled with the lagging development of modern logistics in these areas—including the lack of an end-to-end logistics service system—means that corresponding logistics technology, equipment, and IT infrastructure remain underdeveloped.

Second, compared to coastal areas, bottlenecks such as cumbersome customs clearance procedures have not been effectively resolved, leading to increased management and logistics costs for relocating enterprises.

In recent years, county-level governments have shown the greatest interest in and have attracted the most labor-intensive enterprises relocating from coastal areas. Many provinces, cities, and counties have introduced comprehensive preferential policies to attract investment.

It is worth noting that signs of “cutthroat competition” have already emerged among some counties. Among these, the low quality of the industries being relocated is a prominent problem in many areas.

Overall, given that some enterprises have low profit margins, how much can they contribute to their new locations? Lacking core technologies and brands, with contract manufacturing and OEM production being prevalent, how significant is their capacity to drive economic growth in central and western regions?

During the relocation process, can the receiving industries drive industrial upgrading and transformation? These are the issues that local governments in central and western China must consider when accepting the transfer of labor-intensive industries from coastal regions.

The influx of industries into a region leads to the formation of industrial clusters.

Initial clustering, simply put, is the gathering of enterprises. Local authorities set no entry barriers for enterprises, making no distinctions based on industry or scale. True industrial clustering, however, involves the formation of an industrial ecosystem.

When enterprises within an industrial park operate in the same sector and a clear industrial positioning is established, investment promotion efforts gain a clear direction. Over time, as enterprises become highly interdependent along a single industrial chain, external economies emerge within the region, thereby reducing costs and promoting technological innovation.

Whoever establishes an industrial ecosystem first gains a competitive edge in attracting investment. Simply put, once an industrial ecosystem is established, competitiveness follows. Whether developing high-tech industries or strategic industries, the conventional mindset of “transplanting” industries is inadvisable; establishing industrial parks and building new cities are the most common approaches.

What matters is analyzing the specific stage of the leading industry: is it at the high-end or low-end of the value chain? In terms of industrial development, should the focus be on increasing industrial concentration and fostering large enterprises, or—given a lack of supporting infrastructure—on clustering small and medium-sized enterprises?

Under equal conditions, the higher the concentration of a particular industry in a region, the lower the average industry cost within that region compared to other areas. This attracts more capital to the leading industries in the cluster, thereby further strengthening industrial concentration.

We do not recruit anyone who takes shortcuts by simply following the crowd.

We will not engage in any low-end projects that merely go through the motions.

We will not engage in any land acquisition that is merely for show.

In industrial investment promotion, we must do the right things and do them right.