GUIYANG, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The foundation stone laying ceremony for Apple Inc's first China data center was held on Friday in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The data center, which will cover about 1,000 mu (67 hectares) in Guian New Area, will offer iCloud services on the Chinese mainland.

The center, to be jointly built by Apple and Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Company, is expected to open in 2020. Facilities in the center will all be powered by renewable energy.

Guizhou has become a pioneer in big data in China due to its climate, power supply, and network infrastructure.