The following Chinese government announcement lists 22 compute-related technologies that it wishes to make progress on by 2026, and invites qualified companies and research institutes to apply for subsidies and other government support in developing these technologies. The overall goal of this effort is to make China’s data centers faster, more powerful, more reliable, and more energy-efficient, chiefly to support AI model training and inference.

This translation is a combination of two related documents: the notice on the launching of the challenge campaign, and the list of tasks for the challenge campaign.

Archived versions of the Chinese source texts for the notice and the list are available online, respectively, at: https://perma.cc/2SZX-WWCP and https://perma.cc/7UTU-A6BH

Notice of the Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Organizing and Launching the Computing Power Infrastructure Enhancement Challenge Campaign

Communication of the Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology [2025], No. 55 (工信厅通信函〔2025〕55号)

To the main oversight departments (主管部门) for industry and information technology of, and to the communications administrations (通信管理局) of, all provinces, autonomous regions, and province-level municipalities, as well as the relevant central enterprises (中央企业):

In order to consolidate the foundation for the development of the computing power (compute) network, accelerate the application of innovative technologies and products, promoting the systemic development of the “points, chains, networks, and the totality”¹ of the compute network, we hereby launch the Computing Power Infrastructure Enhancement Challenge Campaign (算力强基揭榜行动). The relevant matters are detailed as follows:

I. Challenge (揭榜) Tasks

Focusing on six key areas of the compute network—computing, storage, networking, applications, low environmental impact (绿色), and security—this campaign seeks to identify a group of enterprises and public institutions² that possess key and core technologies (关键核心技术) and demonstrate strong innovation capabilities in order to achieve breakthroughs in a number of landmark technology products and solutions.

In the area of compute, efforts will focus on tackling technologies such as intelligent compute³ management and compute acceleration to improve compute performance and efficiency. In the area of memory, technologies such as multimedia storage device management and cross-domain memory resource pool coordination will be developed to enable reliable and flexible storage of massive data. In the area of networking, breakthroughs will be made in technologies such as intra-compute networking (算内网络) and inter-compute networking (算间网络) to promote high-speed interconnection of compute resources. In the area of applications, deeper integration between compute and industries will be pursued to enable convenient compute usage across multiple scenarios. In the area of low environmental impact, technologies such as new cooling methods and carbon emissions-aware optimization (碳排放感知优化) will be developed to drive energy conservation and carbon emission reduction in compute infrastructure. In the area of security, technologies such as intelligent monitoring and operations and maintenance (O&M) robots will be promoted to ensure the reliable operation of compute centers.

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1. Translator’s note: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT; 工业和信息化部; 工信部) uses the slogan “points, chains, networks, and the totality” (“点、链、网、面”) to refer to its vision for improving China’s computing power (“compute”) infrastructure. “Points” refers to improving the quality of each individual data center, including reducing overcapacity, meeting the needs of the market, and improving energy efficiency. “Chains” refers to improving the technology used across data centers, enhancing software and hardware ecosystems, and ensuring conformity with common standards. “Networks” refers to engaging Chinese telecom providers to improve the speed and stability of networks. And “the totality” refers to promoting new use cases and application scenarios for compute across all key industries.
2. Translator’s note: “Public institutions” (事业单位) are organizations created and led by Chinese government departments that perform a variety of functions. Notably, universities, research institutes, and hospitals in China tend to be public institutions. Unlike state-owned enterprises (SOEs), public institutions do not create material products and are non-profit. Public institutions are not considered government agencies, and their employees are not civil servants. Most public institutions are fully or partially government-funded, but some fully privately funded (but still government-led) public institutions exist.
3. Translator’s note: “Intelligent computing power” (“intelligent compute”; 智能算力; 智算) typically refers to computing power specifically designed and optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) model training, inference, or use.