The Role of Computing Power in China’s Digital Economy

The 2023 World Computing Conference, held in Changsha, China, focused on the theme of “New Changes in the Computing Industry.” This conference highlighted the significance of computing power in driving digital economy upgrades across various sectors, including hardware, software, strategy, and policy.

China currently holds the world’s second-largest computing capacity and has been actively expanding the scalability and adaptability of its computing power in the digital economy. Over the past five years, China’s total computing power has grown at an average rate of approximately 30 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). This robust increase indicates the development of a supply-and-demand industry chain fueled China’s computing power growth.

Investments in computing power in China have the potential to contribute significantly to the country’s GDP. Estimates from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology suggest that every investment in computing power has the possibility to become three or four times greater in terms of GDP growth. With the computing power industry reaching a scale of at least 1.8 trillion yuan ($247.4 billion) this year, it is evident that China recognizes the importance of computing power development and is making strides in various fields, including infrastructure improvement, application ecosystem, supply chain, education, and financial investment.

One notable achievement in China’s computing power development is the establishment of the first intelligent computing power center and computing power trading hub in Ningxia. This initiative is part of the “East-Data & West-Computing” (EDWC) project, which aims to channel computing resources from the eastern to the western regions of China. The successful implementation of this project has led to resource optimization, improved power supply, reduced service latency, and cost savings in public network bandwidth.

The development of computing power in China extends beyond supercomputing and encompasses the infrastructure required for data transfers, maintenance, resource allocation, and trading. The construction of a computing power network facilitates the interconnection of diverse computing power resources, enabling users to complete computing tasks efficiently.

In the digital economy era, computing power has emerged as a critical infrastructure that has applications in various sectors, including environment protection, smart agriculture, disaster prevention warning, electronic government affairs, medical care, industrial internet, and more. This surge in computing power has facilitated the development of advanced technologies in traditional domains. For example, in the agriculture sector, computing power supports the adoption of technologies like blockchain, AI, IoT, cloud computing, and big data, leading to improved efficiency and cost reduction.

Furthermore, cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC), quantum computing, and AI for Science heavily rely on sufficient computing power for effective model training and breakthroughs in advanced technical realms.

Although there is great demand for computing power, there is a need for further improvements and upgrades in supporting industries. One area of concern is the cost associated with computing power. Chinese scientists are actively addressing this challenge through chip design and algorithm innovation.

Looking ahead, the computing power industry in China will continue to be a driving force for the digital economy and other real industries. A healthy development of computing power will contribute to the high-quality development of the Chinese economy.

Sources:
– Keke Gai, Professor of the School of Cyberspace and Science and Technology at Beijing Institute of Technology
– Jing Yu, Associate Professor of the Institute of Information Engineering at Chinese Academy of Sciences
– Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)
– China Academy of Information and Communications Technology