China puts onus on computing power as US tech war shows no sign of abating
- With global competition for data and computing power intensifying, China will build more data and computing hubs while committing to technological breakthroughs
- China has the world’s second-largest computing capacity, but its expansion is necessary to boost the nation’s digital economy and ward off Washington’s tech curbs
Urgent calls to action by high-ranking Chinese officials reflect how Beijing is scrambling to bolster the nation’s technological self-sufficiency as the administration of US President Joe Biden has stepped up tech curbs to contain China’s technological progress and economic development.
“Computing power is now the cornerstone of digitisation,” said Jin Zhuanglong, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), at a forum on Saturday in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
With more than 41 per cent of its economic output generated from the digital economy, China has the world’s second-largest computing capacity, after the United States.
To catch up, the world’s second-largest economy must accelerate the construction of national computing hubs and data centres while quickening the pace of technological breakthroughs, Jin added.
In the eyes of deputy MIIT minister Zhang Yunming, computing power is now a strategic focal point for the world’s major economies, and it is driving a new wave of technological and industrial revolution.