If you operate data-centre hosting for others in China, you are in IDC territory — a website Bei’an will not cover it.
Internet Data Centre services sit in the value-added telecom catalogue. Licensing, facilities and foreign-investment limits make IDC one of the hardest infra items for FIEs; partner or VIE discussions are counsel-grade and often blocked depending on the exact item and era of rules. This wiki is the IDC label. CDN is a sibling acceleration item. Cloud licensing orients the broader stack. Live telecom and cloud flagships remain deep reading.
4 questions before you choose the route.
This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.
Are you hosting third-party systems/data?
IDC hook.
HostWhose licence sits on the facility?
Self vs partner.
LicenceFIE equity compliant?
Ownership.
FIECDN also offered?
Sibling item.
CDNWorking rule: Map the regulated role before marketing or launch in China.
The signal ledger.
These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.
Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.
Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.
Questions people ask before they build.
Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.
Can a WFOE hold IDC?
Often no under foreign-investment restrictions for this catalogue item — verify current negative list and MIIT practice with counsel.
Where is CDN?
Open /cdn-licence-in-china.
Primary authorities
Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.