(Yicai Global) March 1 -- Aofei Data Technology, a Chinese cloud computing and big data basic services provider, has received a CNY950 million (USD150.5 million) data service order from Chinese internet giant Baidu.

Aofei Data signed a memorandum of understanding with Baidu’s internet search unit Beijing Baidu Netcom Science and Technology, the Guangzhou-based company said in a statement late yesterday.

Under the MOU, Aofei Data’s data center in Gu’an, Hebei province, will provide Baidu with 1,850 customized high-power server cabinets, of which 850 are expected to be delivered by July 31.

The partnership, which will last for six years, will expand Aofei Data’s data center business, enhance its core competitiveness, and promote its cooperation with Baidu, it added.

Shares of Aofei Data [SHE: 300738] closed down 1.9 percent at CNY27.23 (USD4.32) today, after soaring as much as 8.5 percent in the early morning trading session.

This is the second big data service order Aofei Data has received from Baidu over the past several months. Its Nansha Data Service Center in Guangzhou will provide Baidu Netcom with data services worth about CNY1 billion (USD158.5 million) for six years, Aofei Data said last September.

Those in Gu’an and Nansha are Aofei Data’s most recently-built data centers. The first one, with a total investment of CNY4 billion, will have 25,000 cabinets once operational by the end of this year, per the firm’s investment plan released in February last year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione