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According to the government work report this year, we will develop appropriately future-oriented digital infrastructure, work faster to create a nationally unified computing system, and foster industrial ecosystems for computing. What does the ministry specifically plan to do in this regard? Could you provide more details about the development of China's computing power sector and discuss the next steps for its growth? Thank you.

Shan Zhongde:

Thank you for your questions. Acting in line with the arrangements and requirements on working faster to create a nationally unified computing system pushed forward in this year's government work report, the MIIT has strengthened policy guidance, developed computing infrastructure, enhanced the innovation capacity of industries, and promoted the implementation of computing power applications, all of which have delivered positive outcomes.

First, we have actively guided the development of computing infrastructure. We have accelerated the implementation of the action plan for the high-quality development of computing power infrastructure, advanced the coordinated development of computing, networks, storage, and application, and guided the building of the tiered system of computing infrastructure encompassing national hubs, regional centers, and local peripheries. As of the end of 2023, more than 8.1 million standard racks were in use at data centers across China, with the total computing power reaching 230 EFLOPS, which is 230 quintillion floating-point operations per second.

Second, we have focused on strengthening the foundation of computing power development. We have optimized the computing power structure, promoted a diversified supply of computing resources, and gradually expanded the proportion of intelligent computing power, satisfying the development of AI applications. As of the end of 2023, China’s intelligent computing power has reached 70 EFLOPS, which is 70 quintillion floating-point operations per second, a growth rate of over 70%. We have pushed basic telecommunication enterprises to plan and construct more than 180 optical trunk cables under the "East Data, West Computing" project, expanded the interconnection bandwidth of backbone networks to 40T, and covered major cities nationwide with 20-millisecond latency circles of computing power hubs.

Third, we have accelerated the scheduling of computing power resources. We have strengthened research on key technologies regarding the interconnection between computing resources, developed cloud scheduling systems for computing networks, established a computing resource identification system, and improved standards and norms for the interconnectivity of computing power. We have enhanced the efficiency of data transmission between networks, upgraded the functions of new-type internet exchange centers and backbone direct connection points, and improved the ability of computing power to access networks.

Fourth, we have effectively built a computing industry ecosystem. We organized the selection of successful cases among new-type national computing centers to enhance the guiding role of excellent practices. We collected over 5,000 projects of innovative application of computing power, covering various fields such as finance, transportation, and urban governance. We guided the establishment of a matrix for computing industry development and created a community for the development of the industry to better promote integrated and coordinated development, enabling computing power centers to achieve better development.

Next, we will continue to build a nationwide integrated computing power system from three aspects. First, we will coordinate computing resources and improve utilization efficiency. We will optimize the composition of computing infrastructure, deepen the coordination and monitoring of computing infrastructure, and guide the coordinated development of computing power in the eastern and western regions. We will encourage basic telecommunication enterprises to continuously improve the direct interconnection networks linking from computing power clusters to major cities, enhance computing networks’ access capacity, and promote standardized interconnection of public computing power to improve utilization efficiency. Second, we will strengthen the leading role of intelligent computing and optimize the computing power structure. We will actively promote the development of AI computing architecture and software ecosystem, accelerate the breakthrough of a number of landmark technological products and solutions, and encourage various entities to explore new modes of intelligent computing center construction and operation, including multi-party collaboration mechanisms, to better utilize intelligent computing power. Third, we will stimulate computing power demand and improve computing services. We will research and establish a public computing power service supervision and management system, organize computing service scheduling and operation safety monitoring and evaluation, cultivate a number of competitive computing service providers, create a nationwide unified computing service market, continuously optimize computing power network products and services, reduce the cost of computing services for small and medium enterprises, and enhance the inclusiveness and accessibility of computing power.

Arguably, computing power has become an important engine to promote high-quality economic and social development, as well as a vital foundation for technological innovation and high-quality industrial development. We will continue to make efforts in the areas of computing power structure, intelligent computing supply, efficiency improvement, and service guarantees, providing stronger support for accelerating new-type industrialization and serving the construction of a new pattern of development.

That's all I have to say, thank you.