iPad Supplier Building Cloud Container Farm

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer known as a supplier for Apple's iPhone and iPad, is entering the cloud computing market and will invest $63.3 million over the next five years to construct a campus to support its efforts.

The complex will be built in Kaohsiung Software Park in southern Taiwan, and feature a “cloud computing center to be equipped with an internally developed container data center," along with a software development center and a tech incubator, according to a report in DigiTimes (subscription required, also see Focus Taiwan).

Pre-fabricated modular data centers using shipping containers have been adopted by companies seeking to deploy IT infrastructure quickly and in phases.

The project is similar in concept to the cloud labs launched by IBM in seven sites in the Asia-Pacific market in China, India, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore. The Foxconn campus will offer a place where developers in Taiwan can learn cloud technologies, test-drive their apps in production environemtns, and form new companies to commercialize successful products.

The Kaohsiung Software Technology Park is operated by the Export Processing Zone Administration and is part of the government's efforts to transform the area into a technology power. About 200 tech firms currently have operations in the park.