Internet giant Google is reportedly in talks with Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Inspur Group among other Chinese companies to offer its cloud services in China. According to sources close to the matter, discussions regarding the cloud services commenced in the early months of 2018 and Google narrowed down its partnership picks to three firms in the later days of March.
According to Livemint, the disclosure has come along the heels of Google’s announcement regarding the exclusive version of its search engine for China that can block information which the government of Beijing perceives to be sensitive. If executed, the move would signify a reversal by the Alphabet unit, which left the mainland in 2010 after refraining from its censorship practices. Apparently, the presumption of one of the most powerful corporations of the U.S. having to conform to China’s will brought out a spate of criticism in Washington.
The objective behind the cloud initiative is to operate Google’s internet-based services via the domestic servers and data centers of Chinese providers, very much like the way other American cloud companies approach the market. Across most other geographies, Google Cloud rents storage and computing power over the internet and trades its collection of workplace applications called G Suite that runs through its private data centers.
A tie-up with one of China’s largest tech giants and one of the major server and cloud providers, would make powerful allies for Google, as it attempts to return to China, where it shut services back in 2010 due to censorship concerns.
The cloud partnership in China would go up against local competitors but it would help Google take on larger rivals like Microsoft and Amazon, said sources.
It is being speculated that the trade tensions between the U.S and China might impact the effort of the internet magnate to set up cloud services in China.
