Digital News

　　On April 21, Zhang Yunming, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), stated that computing power infrastructure has become a key foundation driving the development of artificial intelligence (AI). As of the end of March, China’s intelligent computing power capacity had reached 1,882 EFLOPS.

　　At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on the same day, Zhang Yunming noted that the MIIT has recently intensified efforts in key tasks, including empowering small- and medium-sized enterprises with inclusive computing power and coordinating computing power and electricity resources. The computing industry has maintained sound momentum. Industrial innovation has grown stronger. The MIIT has further advanced the “Open Competition” initiative to strengthen computing power infrastructure, conducted policy research and standard formulation for the synergy between computing power and electricity, and accelerated the source-grid-load-storage integration and direct green power access. Network transmission has also become more efficient: over the past two years, more than 70 major computing power corridors have been established around computing power hubs, and the urban “millisecond computing access” program has been implemented.

　　Going forward, the MIIT will guide the orderly, demand-driven development of computing power infrastructure, promote the coordinated deployment of green electricity and computing power, and support forward-looking research on space-based computing technology. Nationwide, it will advance the phased rollout of “millisecond computing access” networks, further implement special initiatives to empower small and medium-sized enterprises with inclusive computing power, and explore innovative services such as “computing power banks” and “computing power supermarkets.”

　　Regarding information and communication infrastructure, Xie Cun, Director of the Information and Communication Development Department at the MIIT, reported that as of the end of March, China had a total of 4.958 million 5G base stations. By then, pilot deployments of 10-Gigabit optical networks had been carried out in 168 residential communities, factories, and industrial parks across 86 cities, and 5G Advanced (5G-A) networks had already covered 330 cities. Deep network coverage had been achieved in 269,000 key locations nationwide, and 5G and gigabit optical networks had been integrated into 91 out of the 97 major sectors of the national economy.

　　Xie Cun added that future efforts will focus on strengthening information and communication infrastructure, advancing deep coverage of 5G and gigabit optical networks; accelerating the large-scale commercial rollout of 5G-A and orderly pilot deployments of 10-Gigabit optical networks; promoting the development of the mobile Internet of Things to achieve “intelligent connectivity of everything”; and strategically advancing research and development of frontier technologies such as 6G and the next-generation Internet, while fostering collaborative innovation across the information and communication technology sector and vertical industries.