Tesla China is building a Chinese-only data centre in Shanghai. This centre allows Tesla to comply with Chinese cybersecurity law in regards to data collection and storage.
A few years ago, rumours of Chinese driver data stored on Tesla servers in the US started rumblings that Tesla would open Chinese-based data centre. Tesla never confirmed the rumours, but moved quickly to ensure Chinese-data would not end up in the United States again. Tesla China later advertised new data roles for their Shanghai-based operations.
The data centre news came from Tesla China’s head of communication and government affairs, Grace Tao. In a statement from Tao, Tesla confirmed data from Chinese-based vehicles would be stored in China as per national law.
As per reports, the Shanghai Data Centre will complete construction at the end of June 2021. However, Tesla China did not release any specifications or details about the project. Tesla China has not confirmed when the Shanghai Data Centre will be up and running.
Tesla has come under fire recently after it emerged China had banned the electric vehicles from all of its facilities across the country over fears the cameras would be used for spying. Those fears were calmed after Musk confirmed they do not, and that any data collected from their cars stays within China.