China’s Data Industry Hits 6.78 Trillion Yuan in 2025
China’s data industry reached a scale of 6.78 trillion yuan in 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of 15.7%, according to Xinhua News. The figure was announced at the opening ceremony of the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, on August 28.
The milestone underscores the accelerating pace of China’s digital transformation and its growing emphasis on data as a strategic economic asset. As of August 2026, China has cumulatively built over 126,000 high-quality datasets nationwide, with total data volume exceeding 1,815 petabytes (PB).
The 2026 Big Data Expo
The expo, which runs from August 28-30, is hosted by the National Data Administration and organized by the Guizhou Provincial People’s Government. Its theme, “Token — New Path for Data Element Value Release,” reflects China’s strategic pivot toward the “token economy” — the fundamental units processed by AI models — as the next frontier in data value creation.
The event features 60,000 square meters of professional exhibition space and more than 300 participating enterprises. According to CCTV News, the exhibition is organized around five themes: computing power infrastructure, data supply, model-driven development, security protection, and intelligent experience. Key exhibitors include China Telecom, Huawei, and Inspur, with new technologies such as intelligent agent facilities and digital intelligence factories making their debut.
During the expo, the National Data Administration will release over 20 institutional norms, industry standards, and practical case studies, while industry players will unveil more than 40 latest achievements in computing-electricity coordination, data circulation, and generative AI.
Data Infrastructure and Computing Power
The announcement comes amid rapid expansion of China’s data infrastructure. As of June 2026, the country’s data infrastructure has connected over 40,000 entities and listed over 60,000 products — growing 10-fold and 4-fold respectively compared to the end of 2025, as reported by Sina News.
China’s total intelligent computing power reached 2.4 million PFLOPS, with the eight national computing hubs accounting for over 80% of national intelligent computing capacity. Additionally, 1.4 million PFLOPS of intelligent computing power has been connected to the national integrated computing network pilot platform.
The “Token Economy” Shift
The expo’s focus on tokens signals a strategic evolution in China’s data economy approach. Rather than merely accumulating data, China is now concentrating on converting data into AI-ready tokens that can drive model training, inference, and real-world applications. This reflects the maturation of China’s AI ecosystem and the recognition that high-quality, structured data is the key constraint on AI advancement.
According to the National Data Administration, China’s annual data production reached 52.26 zettabytes (ZB) in 2025, up 27.28% year-on-year and accounting for approximately 27.44% of global data production. Annual token call volume in 2025 reached approximately 21,100 trillion tokens.
Deputy Director of the National Data Administration Yu Ying stated that the next step is to “continue deepening the market-oriented allocation reform of data elements and accelerate the release of data element value.” The agency has encouraged business model innovation based on token applications, exploring new trading models for tokens and fostering a market consensus of “paying for quality data.”
Guizhou’s Role as “China’s Data Valley”
Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, has positioned itself as “China’s Data Valley.” As of end of July 2026, the province has 50 data centers under construction or in operation, with total computing power of 176 EFLOPS, of which intelligent computing accounts for 98%. Guizhou has built the largest domestically-produced single intelligent computing cluster in China and is developing a “computing power-token-application” collaborative ecosystem.
As Guangming Daily reported, Guizhou aims to reach 500 billion yuan in digital intelligence industry scale by the end of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period. The province has created over 170 large model application scenarios across 24 key industries.
Broader Implications
The rapid growth of China’s data industry has significant global implications. 2026 marks the first year of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan” period and has been designated as the “Data Element Value Release Year.” The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission published an issue brief on August 18 examining how Beijing is transforming data into a strategic economic asset through state-directed commercialization policies.
The commission’s report highlights that China designated data as a factor of production in 2020 and has since built a comprehensive framework of data exchanges, accounting rules, and industrial data programs aimed at monetizing data at a national scale. As China continues to develop its data infrastructure and AI capabilities, it is positioning itself as a major competitor in the global AI and data economy.
What to Watch
Key questions remain as China’s data economy matures: How will the token trading market be regulated, and what standards will be established? What is the breakdown of the 6.78 trillion yuan figure by sector? And how will data privacy and security concerns be balanced with the push for data value realization? The outcomes of the 2026 Big Data Expo and the policy releases expected during the event will provide important signals for the direction of China’s data economy in the coming years.