China’s tech companies affected by Tianjin blast

Though it pales in comparison to the human horror and suffering that was unleashed by this week’s deadly chemical blast in Tianjin, the explosion has also had a significant effect on some of China’s biggest tech enterprises. Among them:

Tencent’s Tianjin data center was damaged in the blast, including apparent serious damage to its server room. This caused the temporary delay of some animated video content that the center had been slated to release. Tencent has since said via WeChat that basic repairs of the damage have already been completed, and operations have returned to normal, with none of the employees at the data center having been injured.

Liepin, a major jobs and recruitment site that raised a US$70M series C last year, also had a development center within the blast radius and suffered serious damage. 17 of the company’s employees sustained injuries in the explosion, although none was seriously hurt and Liepin has since announced that all of its staff is safe.

Major online classifieds site 58.com was also affected. According to CEO Yao Jinbo, the company has a dormitory housing 600 workers that had to be evacuated following the blast. Luckily, none of them were injured.

China’s Tianhe-1A supercomputer was shut down as a precaution after the building that houses it was damaged by the blast. Chinese media reports that the room housing Tianhe itself was unaffected, but the explosion broke some exterior walls and shattered glass at the facility.

HP and Sohu reportedly also have facilities close to the blast area that may have been affected. Hopefully all companies with operations in the vicinity will take the proper precautions and ensure that their facilities are 100 percent safe before employees are allowed to return to work.

(Source: Sina Tech)