The following document is a Chinese government policy for the near-term development of computing power. The plan urges the expansion of compute in China, particularly of supercomputing and “intelligent compute” optimized for AI applications. But the policy also emphasizes improving the energy efficiency and lowering the carbon footprint of computing power infrastructure such as data centers. An appendix includes various compute-related metrics for China to strive for in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
An archived version of the Chinese source text is available online at: https://perma.cc/5BUT-AF5P
Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of Computing Power Infrastructure
Computing power (“compute”) is a new productive force (新型生产力) that integrates information computing power, network carrying capacity (网络运载力), and data storage capacity. It mainly provides services to society through compute infrastructure. Compute infrastructure is an important part of the new information infrastructure. It is diverse, ubiquitous, intelligent, agile, secure, reliable, green, and low-carbon. It is of great significance for promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, empowering scientific and technological (S&T) innovation and progress, meeting the needs of the people for the good life (美好生活), and achieving high-efficiency governance of society. This action plan has been formulated to strengthen collaborative innovation in computing, networks, storage, and applications, promote the high-quality development of compute infrastructure, and give full play to the role of compute as a driver of the digital economy.
I. Overall Requirements
(i) Guiding Ideology
Taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, we must fully implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, take the new stage of development (新发展阶段) as our basis, completely, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new concept of development (新发展理念), accelerate the construction of the new pattern of development (新发展格局), and strive to promote high-quality development. With the goal of building a modernized infrastructure system and facing up to the needs of economic and social development and major national strategies, we will steadily improve the comprehensive supply capacity of compute, strive to strengthen the efficient support of its carrying capacity, continuously improve flexible assurance of storage capacity (存力), continue to enhance the effectiveness of compute empowerment (算力赋能), comprehensively promote the green and secure development of compute, and inject new momentum into the high-quality development of the digital economy.
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