Microsoft announces new Azure China data center region in Hebei

Microsoft has announced a new Azure data center region in Northern China.

Quietly announced during its Ignite conference this week, the China North 3 region will be located in Hebei and be the company’s fifth in the country. Microsoft also has a region in Taiwan, which the Chinese Government considers part of China.

Details about the new facility, or a go-live date, have not been revealed. The company says the new region will enable more customers to utilize Microsoft Cloud, including Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Power BI.

As with the previous China regions, the Azure in China is a separate service sold and operated by 21Vianet, and in an independent, dedicated network within China and designed to serve businesses operating within China.

Microsoft’s first two Chinese regions, China East in Shanghai and China North in Bejing, launched in 2014. Additional facilities in the same cities, China East 2 and China North 2, opened in 2018.

The company yesterday announced Dr. HOU Yang as the Chairman & CEO of the Greater China Region. He succeeds Alain Crozier to lead its sales, marketing, and operations organization in the region. DCD