China’s Computing Network Drives 4 Trillion Yuan Investment

China’s computing network sector is poised to generate up to 4 trillion yuan (approximately $560 billion) in new direct investment during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period (2026-2030), according to estimates cited by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The projection underscores the scale of China’s digital infrastructure buildout, driven by explosive growth in artificial intelligence applications and a wave of corporate investment across the sector.

A National Strategic Priority

The computing network is one of the “Six Networks” designated by China’s central government as a national strategic infrastructure priority. In April 2026, the Central Political Bureau explicitly proposed strengthening the planning and construction of the “Six Networks” — water networks, new power grids, computing networks, new-generation communication networks, urban underground pipeline networks, and logistics networks. The initiative is part of China’s broader infrastructure development strategy under the 15th Five-Year Plan, with investment in the “Six Networks” and related key areas expected to exceed 7 trillion yuan in 2026 alone, as reported by People’s Daily.

According to Guo Mingjun, Director of the Computing Economy Division at the National Information Center under the NDRC, the 4 trillion yuan in new direct investment from computing network construction will be primarily driven by social investment. “Key areas including computing power monitoring and scheduling, computing-electricity coordination, and ultra-large-scale intelligent computing clusters will create broad investment space for various business entities,” Guo said, as reported by Xinhua News.

Infrastructure Milestones

Recent months have seen significant milestones in China’s computing infrastructure. In July 2026, the National Supercomputing Internet Core Node was officially launched in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. As the country’s first 100,000-card-scale converged supercomputing and intelligent computing resource pool, the node supports large model R&D, scientific intelligent agents, industrial simulation, biomedicine, and cybersecurity scenarios.

The first fully domestically-produced 100,000-card AI super cluster has also been put into operation, marking China’s computing infrastructure entering a new stage of 100,000-card-scale deployment. According to Bu Jingde, Chief Engineer of the National High-Performance Computer Engineering Technology Research Center, the cluster’s peak computing capacity is equivalent to all of humanity continuously computing for 200 years, supporting 300+ types of computing tasks across 26 fields including new materials, innovative drugs, and AI, as reported by 21st Century Business Herald.

Corporate Investment Surge

Companies across the technology sector are deepening their industrial layouts in computing infrastructure. The scale of investment is substantial:

• WanGuo Data signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Ulanqab Municipal Government in June 2026, planning to invest over 30 billion yuan over the next five years to build multiple high-density data center parks and GW-level green power direct-connect data center clusters, as reported by Xueqiu.
• JinkoSolar Technology announced a cooperation intention for the Ningxia Zhongwei 1GW computing center project with a planned total investment of approximately 24.5 billion yuan, according to Guandian.
• China Unicom has committed 17.5 billion yuan (35% of its 50 billion yuan annual capital expenditure) to computing-related investments in 2026.
• China Mobile reported capital expenditure of 61 billion yuan in H1 2026, with computing network investment growing 71% year-on-year and intelligent network investment growing 85%, as detailed by 21st Century Business Herald.

The public bidding market reflects the scale of this investment wave. In the first seven months of 2026, more than 158 individual bidding projects with contract values exceeding 100 million yuan each were recorded in China’s public bidding market for intelligent computing centers and data centers, with total contract values exceeding 113 billion yuan, according to DoNews.

AI Demand Driving Exponential Growth

The surge in computing power demand is being driven by the rapid iteration of AI technology and the accelerating deployment of embodied intelligence and intelligent agents. According to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) data, China’s intelligent computing scale reached 2,185 EFLOPS in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 177%, with over 60% of national computing power included in unified monitoring.

Wang Feng, Investment Director at Jiantou Investment Co., Ltd., explained the dynamics: “The rapid iteration of AI technology and the rapid development of embodied intelligence and intelligent agents have jointly created exponential demand for computing power. At the same time, there is a structural shortage in computing power resource supply. Enterprises’ concentrated investment is actually a preemptive positioning for scarce resources, which will further drive the investment wave.”

Tech Giants Ramp Up Computing Power Procurement

Major technology companies are significantly increasing their computing power investments. Tencent’s Q2 2026 capital expenditure reached 52.78 billion yuan, up 176% year-on-year and 65% quarter-on-quarter, with estimated Q2 computing power prepayments of 51.4 billion yuan, as reported by Phoenix Tech. Tencent President Liu Zhiping noted that at the infrastructure layer, enterprises have significantly increased computing power procurement, which will help convert application and model usage into revenue.

Lenovo Group reported AI-related business revenue of 63.4 billion yuan in Q1 FY2026/27, up 60% year-on-year to a record high, with its Infrastructure Solutions Group revenue growing 98% to 57.9 billion yuan, according to 21st Century Business Herald.

Regional Expansion and Computing-Electricity Coordination

Beyond the major hubs, computing nodes are expanding across the country. The China Mobile Wuhan Intelligent Computing Center in Wuhan Optics Valley has deployed 2,876 PFLOPS of computing power, with 27 data centers and 42 operational or under-construction computing nodes across Hubei Province. The China Unicom Wuzhen Intelligent Computing Center Phase I has a computing scale of 2,000 PFLOPS, with plans to complete 10,000-card cluster construction by 2026.

The computing-electricity coordination (算电协同) strategy, written into the 2026 Government Work Report for the first time, addresses the spatial mismatch between computing demand centers in eastern China and clean energy resources in western China. This policy framework, along with the “East-Data-West-Computing” project, is creating millisecond-level computing service circles around the eight national hub nodes, as reported by Xiamen Net.

Analysis: A Transformative Investment Cycle

The 4 trillion yuan investment projection reflects a fundamental shift in China’s approach to digital infrastructure. Unlike traditional infrastructure projects that rely heavily on government funding, computing network construction is primarily enterprise-led, creating significant space for private investment and market-driven innovation.

The investment is expected to have a multiplier effect across the technology supply chain. According to 21st Century Business Herald, the computing network buildout will drive spillover benefits across domestic chip manufacturing, cloud and computing services, power equipment, and server production. The most direct beneficiaries are expected to be the computing infrastructure foundation itself, including ultra-large-scale AIDC clusters, domestic AI chips, servers, advanced storage, and network communication hardware, as well as green energy supply under the computing-electricity coordination framework.

What to Watch Next

As the “15th Five-Year Plan” unfolds, several key developments bear watching: the continued expansion of the National Supercomputing Internet and its integration with regional computing nodes; the progress of the “Deep-Gui Line” computing resource corridor between Shenzhen and Guizhou; the pace of domestic AI chip adoption and localization; and the evolution of computing-electricity coordination policies. With computing power demand expected to continue its exponential growth trajectory, the 4 trillion yuan investment projection may prove conservative if AI applications continue to scale at their current pace.