Apple's Chinese iCloud operations, encryption keys transferred to China

Tech giant Apple announced that its Chinese iCloud operations were being transferred to a local firm in southern China, along with its iCloud encryption keys.

The move comes after Apple announced its partnership with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data (GCBD), a Chinese firm supervised by a board ran by government-owned businesses, last year.

With the relocation, Apple users with iCloud accounts registered in China will now have their data hosted by the GCBD centre. However, users who prefer not to hand over data can choose to delete their Chinese iCloud accounts, The Verge reported.

The iPhone maker in a set of emails to mainland Chinese customers last month had said the move would enable the firm's development in terms of speed and reliability of iCloud and ensure greater compliance with Chinese regulations.

Following the official transfer of operations, reports suggest that Chinese iCloud users may experience a ramp up in terms of speed of operations, owing to the absence of any firewall.

Local Chinese media said post the deal with Apple, users will reportedly experience faster download times and a more stable network, along with greater data protection ensured by the Chinese government.

In terms of data security, Apple assured that their data will remain secure and private, adding that no "backdoors" would be created into any of its systems. The company statement also clarified that data would remain private, "until the Chinese government requests to see it."

The transition is being rolled out to select Apple users in China.