(Yicai Global) June 4 -- JD.Com's southern Guangdong unit has won the right to turn a piece of  land, sized about 53 soccer fields, in the industrial hub of Dongguan  into a CNY20 billion (USD2.9 billion) artificial intelligence project.

JD.Com has obtained the  376,000 square meters of land for CNY1.1 billion (USD159.3 million) with  a right to use the resource for 40 years, the city's administration  said on its public information website. The land may only be used for  smart manufacturing, AI and other next generation information technology  facilities.

The firm will set up Big  Data, cloud computing, and Internet of Things businesses at the new  location, and the project will take three years to finish, according to  the same source.

JD.Com has spent CNY14.2  billion to secure land and build fully equipped warehouses in 30 Chinese  cities as of Dec. 31, 2018, according to the Beijing-based company's  annual report. The firm has over 550 large domestic warehouses, covering  a total area of 12 million square meters, its first-quarter report  shows.

JD.Com's Guangdong unit was co-founded with City Intelligence and Yansheng Shiye Investment, both of which hold minority stakes. 

Editor: Emmi Laine