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AWS sells local Chinese infrastructure to local partner Sinnet

Bezos' cut price bit barns sell to comply with local laws

Amazon Web Services has sold some of its infrastructure in China.

Financial newswires report that AWS' local partner, Beijing Sinnet, has acquired Amazon's local operations for about US$300m, with news of the deal appearing as a filing on the Shenzen Stock Exchange on Monday.

An early version of this story reported an outright sale but Amazon has been in touch to explain the deal in a statement sent to The Register. That statement says "Chinese law forbids non-Chinese companies from owning or operating certain technology for the provision of cloud services. As a result, in order to comply with Chinese law, AWS sold certain physical infrastructure assets to Sinnet, its longtime Chinese partner and AWS seller-of-record for its AWS China (Beijing) Region."

"AWS continues to own the intellectual property for AWS Services worldwide." The statement also said AWS remains keeny interested in making its services available in China.

Amazon and Beijing Sinnet only tied the knot September 2016, when Sinnet took over AWS' Beijing bit barn and responsibility for operating and selling it. AWS provided tech smarts for the two-year deal.

Sinnet's statement to the markets reportedly says the purchase will help it “comply with our country’s laws and rules and further improve the security and the service quality of the AWS cloud-computing service operated by the company.” That language fits with AWS' explanation.

The laws that forced the deal operate alongside policies that see China keen to foster its own technology industries and to make them the premier choice for locals. Alibaba and Tencent already represent colossal cloud contenders, while Huawei and Lenovo also have cloudy ambitions. ®

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