Musk confirms Tesla will store Chinese data locally

Tesla has set up a data center in China to store all "personally identifiable information" locally, Tesla's Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Sunday.

Tesla, along with other top industry executives, gave speeches during the opening session of the World Internet Conference 2021, held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province.

Cybersecurity is one of the hottest topics at the conference, as China is releasing several cybersecurity laws to protect personal information and improve security levels.

"Data security is key to the success of intelligent and connected vehicles," Musk said in an online speech. "All personally identifiable information is securely stored in China without being transferred overseas."

Tesla has set up a data center locally to store data generated from business in China, including production, sales, services and charging.

Musk's speech may relieve concerns of China's Tesla owners and industry executives, who are concerned personal information and data could be transferred to overseas centers without permission.

Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Qi'anxing, a STAR-listed online security firm, said it makes sense to strength data protection and security in the digital age. This covers storage safety, fair trade and regulation compliance.

Mobile carriers like China Mobile and China Telecom also talked about 5G and the industry's healthy development in China.

China has released several data security and regulation laws this year.

Last month, China passed its first Personal Information Protection Law to prevent businesses collecting sensitive personal data and to crack down on crimes like online fraud and data theft.

The law, which will take effect in November, is expected to improve data security and management in the world's second-biggest economy with more than 1 billion netizens.

It may bring challenges and changes for tech giants and big companies, which are highly depend on data-driven business, analysts said.

"We are working with regulators on finding the best solution for data security," Musk said.

The conference, held annually in Wuzhen, is from Sunday to Tuesday.