China develops a “national computing network” to turn AI infrastructure into a public service

China is accelerating the development of a “national computing network” aimed at transforming artificial intelligence infrastructure into a public service, amid the rapid rise in token usage and telecom operators’ efforts to identify new growth engines beyond mobile data and phone subscriptions, according to the South China Morning Post.

The initiative has been highlighted by state media, which described the network as a “digital version of the national power grid.” Reports compared tokens — the basic units of text, code, and other information processed by AI models — to mobile data, presenting them as the measurable commodity of the artificial intelligence era.

According to data published by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, daily token calls in China exceeded 140 trillion in March, more than 1,000 times higher than at the beginning of 2024. Reports indicate that rising AI model costs are beginning to affect developers and companies, echoing the early days of the mobile internet era, when slow speeds and high costs were eventually replaced by affordable mobile data following the rollout of 4G and 5G networks.

This strategy reflects how Beijing views AI infrastructure. Rather than treating computing power as a resource controlled by cloud providers or individual data centers, Chinese authorities are increasingly positioning it as a national infrastructure system, alongside water networks, power grids, next-generation communications, underground urban infrastructure, and logistics systems — priorities collectively known as the “six networks.”

Earlier this month, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China called for intensified planning and development of these six networks. The National Development and Reform Commission stated that investments in these networks and related sectors could exceed 7 trillion yuan this year, equivalent to approximately 1 trillion US dollars.