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China is spending billions on a national computing network. Its data chief says why
- Liu Liehong lays out the case for full integration of the country’s computing power in its ‘Eastern Data and Western Computing’ mega project
- Concentrating resources will yield efficiencies but also security challenges, he says
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Dannie Pengin Beijing
China needs a fully integrated national computing network if it is to forge ahead in the global race for high technology and retool its economy for innovation, according to the head of the country’s new data regulator.
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In an article in Communist Party journal Qiushi on the weekend, National Data Administration (NDA) chief Liu Liehong said computing power had become “the main arena of scientific and technological competition” among major countries rushing to take the lead in the industries of the future.
“Computing power has become the core productive force for a country,” Liu said.
“Frontier technologies and future industries represented by new materials, biopharmaceuticals, gene technology, and deep sea, air and space exploration, have created an unprecedented demand for computing power infrastructure.
“A unified computing system would optimise resources, lower costs and help the country to achieve breakthroughs in cutting-edge tech such as quantum information.”
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AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China
AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China
Beijing has put computing power front and centre in its efforts to narrow the gap with the United States in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence.
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