Late last year, Guiyang teamed up with Zhongguancun, the biggest tech park in China, in a bid to boost the city's IT industry. So far, it's attracted at least 43.7 billion yuan in investment from companies based in Zhongguancun.

Qin Rupei, deputy governor of Guizhou, said the province plans to build a "top tier" cloud computing hub by 2020.

Alibaba introduces cloud-computing service for banks

SAP sees China business up in the cloud

"Cloud computing business will spur the development of other industries such as hardware manufacturing, IT services and financing. All of these activities are critical to Guizhou's economy," said Qin.

Guizhou's ambitious cloud computing plan will face challenges from other inland provinces, which are also betting on new technologies to lift their economies.

The Big Three telecom giants are investing about 40 billion yuan in the region to build cloud facilities. China Telecom Corp Ltd, one of the Big Three, is setting up its largest cloud computing center in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia.

Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Telecom, said last year that it's time to install cloud computing facilities nationwide.

Shaanxi, Heilongjiang and Fujian provinces and the municipality of Tianjin have also launched cloud projects.

Chinese policymakers hope the growth of information consumption will give the economy a lift, especially as foreign trade remains weak.

Information consumption is likely to reach 3.2 trillion yuan by the end of 2015, according to the State Council, China's cabinet.

Chinese Internet firms dig big data gold

The history of cloud computing