Apple plans to set up its first data centre in China to speed up services such as iCloud for local users and comply with the country’s new cyber security law requiring global companies to store information locally.

The centre is part of a planned $1 billion Apple investment in the southern province of Guizhou, one of the poorer regions of China.

Apple is partnering with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry, a government-backed data centre developer and operator. The facility will house an estimated 30,000 server cabinets, according to the South China Morning Post.

China’s controversial new cyber security law requiring strict data surveillance and local storage for internet companies came into force on 1 June. The law, which was passed in November 2016, restricts ISPs from collecting and selling users’ personal information which is irrelevant to their services.

Overseas business groups pushed Chinese regulators to delay implementing the law, complaining the new rules would restrict their activities.

China, Apple’s second largest market after the US, was once again the weak spot for Apple in Q1, with revenue in greater China dropping 14 per cent to $10.8 billion in the company’s fiscal Q2 ending 31 March.