(Yicai Global) May 14 -- Tsinghua Unigroup Co., a Chinese information technology conglomerate, plans to build a CNY12 billion (USD1.9 billion) base in the northern city of Tianjin to act as its national headquarters for cloud business.

The state-backed group reached a deal with the Tianjin government on May 11, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. The office will be based in the Tianjin Binhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Area and hopes to bring in 2,000 workers to turn the central government-run metropolis into a smart, digital city.

The hi-tech park has been looking to accrue a host of IT companies worth CNY100 billion and has enticed leading firms, such as Dawning Information Industry Co., a supercomputer developer under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and digital security provider 360 Security Technology Inc.  

Tsinghua Unigroup is run under one of China's leading higher education institutes Tsinghua University, based in Beijing. The firm is the country's biggest integrated circuit maker and is looking to extend its cloud-based business to offer full coverage of the IT sector.

Editor: James Boynton