State-run Shenzhen Data Exchange starts official trading after 1-year trial
- China is trying to apply commercial rules to create a market for data, which is regarded by Beijing as a new production factor
- Experiments in data trading take place despite the lack of an adequate legal framework that could help resolve issues such as data ownership
Trading has officially kicked off at the state-run data exchange in China’s southern tech hub of Shenzhen, allowing companies to buy and sell data the way they do with regular commodities, as the country explores ways to build a data trading market to boost its digital economy.
The Shenzhen Data Exchange was conceived last December and facilitated 415 trade deals with a total trading volume of 1.1 billion yuan (US$150 million) during the trial period, according to the exchange operator. Official trading began last Tuesday.
A total of 484 companies have registered on the exchange so far, including 98 data providers, 91 data brokers, and 295 current and prospective data buyers, according to the exchange.
State-run China Southern Power Grid, which has been selling credit data of companies based on their electricity use to certain bank clients, will now list these data for sale on the exchange to allow wider trading.
China is trying to apply commercial rules to create a market for data, which is regarded by Beijing as a new production factor, in the same category as land, capital and human labour.
As of August, more than 40 data exchanges have been established or are being planned, according to an article published by the State Information Centre in September.
