China plans to allocate 2 trillion yuan to build a national computing power network, with a target of achieving 80% localization rate of AI chips According to Beating Monitoring, informed sources have revealed that China is planning to invest approximately 2 trillion yuan (about 295 billion US dollars) in the next five years to build a nationwide data center network, aiming to promote the development of the domestic AI industry and surpass the United States in key technological competition. Core government departments such as the National Development and Reform Commission are leading the drafting of a blueprint for computing power networks, planning to connect dispersed computing resources from various regions into a network. State owned telecommunications giants such as China Mobile and China Telecom will undertake the majority of data center operations and interconnection work to ensure overall network connectivity by 2028. If combined with supporting projects such as power grid renovation, the total investment of the project is expected to reach 5 trillion yuan. In terms of software and hardware procurement, the blueprint plans to stipulate that at least 80% of AI chips and other technological equipment must use products from local suppliers such as Huawei, which will further squeeze the market share of American chip giants such as Nvidia and AMD in the Chinese market. Although the United States has agreed to sell the previous generation H200 chips to Chinese buyers, actual shipments of H200 chips have not yet begun due to China's growing confidence in domestic replacement chips. In May of this year, nine domestic AI chips, including Huawei, Alibaba, Weiren Technology, and Moore Thread, have passed the security assessment of national science and technology security agencies, clearing obstacles for the widespread implementation of domestic chips in high security requirements such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. The construction plan of Suanli Network was included in the national strategy of "six networks" (covering infrastructure construction such as water conservancy, power and Suanli) announced earlier this year. The funds will be mainly raised through the issuance of ultra long term special treasury bond with a term of more than 10 years and the national investment fund for strategic industries. Bank loans and private capital will also be supplemented. Although the total budget of 2 trillion yuan is still lower than the AI capital expenditures of American giants such as Meta and Microsoft this year alone (about 725 billion US dollars), thanks to China's cost advantages in labor, construction, and components, as well as local government subsidy policies, the efficiency of converting budget into actual computing power remains significant. [Original link]