CNR:

As the digital foundation for Chinese modernization, computing infrastructure has always gained much attention. What has the NDA done to accelerate the construction of a unified computing network around the "East Data, West Computing" project? What are the considerations and plans for the next step? Thank you.

Liu Liehong:

Let's invite Mr. Du to answer your question. 

Du Wei:

Thanks for your question. In the digital economy era, computing power is a new quality productive force. To optimize the distribution of productive forces and give full play to the energy advantages of China's western regions, the country proposed the "East Data, West Computing" project. This initiative is based on a comprehensive consideration of factors, including energy supply, geological conditions, climate and environment, data transmission distances, and existing industrial infrastructure. In February 2022, China officially launched the project. This involved initiating the construction of national computing hub nodes in eight locations: the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Chengdu-Chongqing region, north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, southwest China's Guizhou province, and northwest China's Gansu province and Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Additionally, the project outlined plans for 10 national data center clusters.

Over the past two years, with the joint efforts of relevant departments and computing hub nodes, the "East Data, West Computing" project has made positive progress. As of the end of March this year, more than 1.46 million standard server racks have been installed in 10 national data center clusters, with the overall utilization rate reaching 62.72%, an increase of 4 percentage points over 2022. Network latency between eastern and western hub nodes has generally met the 20-millisecond target. Green power use in these data centers exceeded the national average, with the utilization rate of green power in some advanced data centers reaching about 80%. The power usage effectiveness (PUE) of newly built data centers dropped to as low as 1.10. The implementation of the project has driven growth in related industrial chains, including IT equipment manufacturing, information communication, basic software and green energy. It has also improved the overall level of national computing power.

At the end of last year, we worked with relevant departments to release an implementation plan to speed up the construction of a national computing power network. Five key tasks are outlined in the plan, including coordinating general computing power, intelligent computing power and supercomputing power; coordinating the layout of eastern, central and western regions and large, medium and small cities; coordinating the application of computing power, data and algorithms; coordinating the construction of computing power and green electricity; and coordinating the development of computing power and security. The national computing power network is an expansion and deepening of the "East Data, West Computing" project. It aims to promote efficient, coordinated scheduling of computing resources nationwide and form cross-regional and cross-departmental synergy. This development will provide inclusive, easy-to-use, low-cost, green and secure public computing services for all aspects of economic and social life.

The plan includes specific targets that require greater efforts to achieve. For example, by the end of 2025, new computing power in national hub nodes should exceed 60% of the national total, and green power should account for over 80% of power consumption in new data centers at these hub nodes. Next, we will work with relevant departments and localities to accelerate the construction of a national computing power network. This initiative aims to drive high-quality economic development through advanced computing power. Specifically, it promotes the coordinated development of multi-source heterogeneous computing power and concentrates various new computing capabilities at national hub nodes. It also encourages 400G/800G high-bandwidth all-optical connections between national hubs and demand areas. This includes guiding telecom operators to improve the efficiency of "public transmission channels" and promoting the deep integration of computing and networking. The plan promotes coordination between industry data and computing power, ensures reliable data circulation, and improves data processing capabilities and governance. It also promotes the integrated development of computing power and electricity, strengthening synergy between hub and non-hub nodes. This includes supporting non-hub nodes in the central and western regions rich in green electricity resources to integrate into the national computing power network. Finally, the plan aims to improve the security capabilities of the national computing power network and ensure that high-quality development and greater security reinforce each other. 

That's all for my answer. Thank you!