China is entering a new era of digital acceleration, with its intelligent computing power projected to grow by more than 40% in 2025, according to forecasts released at the 2025 China Computing Power Conference. Industry experts say the surge underscores the nation’s determination to build a world-class AI ecosystem and cement its position in the global technology race.
AI as the Growth Engine
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence has become the single largest driver of demand for computing power in China. Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Beijing-based Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute, emphasized that computing power is no longer an abstract concept tied to research labs, but a transformative force shaping society.
“AI is spreading across healthcare, education, manufacturing, agriculture, and city governance—and at the center of this transformation lies computing power,” Zhang noted.
By June 2025, China’s intelligent computing capacity reached 788 EFLOPS (one quintillion floating-point operations per second), a massive leap from just 90 EFLOPS at the end of 2024. This dramatic rise highlights the speed at which China is scaling its infrastructure to meet AI’s escalating requirements.
Expanding Applications Across Industries
China’s computing boom is not limited to model training or data centers, it is rippling through industries. Intelligent computing is already being applied to generative AI, autonomous driving, the low-altitude economy, smart cities, and advanced manufacturing.
According to Wang Peng, associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, healthcare is a particularly promising sector. AI-powered imaging tools are reducing diagnostic times, while in education, adaptive learning systems and immersive VR/AR classrooms are emerging. In agriculture, precision farming and robotics are reshaping food production.
Competitions held nationwide have collected more than 23,000 innovative projects, showcasing how finance, healthcare, and energy companies are rapidly adopting AI solutions powered by next-generation computing.
Building the Infrastructure Backbone
China is also investing heavily in the foundations of its computing ecosystem. The National Data Administration (NDA) has reported that the country’s overall computing power has been growing at a 30% annual rate, placing China second worldwide.
To sustain this momentum, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is optimizing the distribution of computing resources across regions and industries. A new interconnection system is being developed to balance capacity between the country’s eastern and western regions, ensuring more efficient utilization.
Meanwhile, leading tech firms are scaling investment at an unprecedented pace. Domestic operators are expected to increase their computing power spending by more than 20% in 2025, while internet giants plan to pour 500 billion yuan ($69.8 billion) into AI infrastructure over the next three years.
Chips, AI Models, and the Reinforcing Cycle
The boom in computing power is inseparable from progress in chip technology. At the conference, discussions highlighted the reinforcing cycle between chips, AI, and computing: advanced chips enable more efficient AI, which in turn drives higher computing power demand, spurring further chip innovation.
One key development is FP8 precision, which compresses data into 8-bit formats, cutting costs and doubling efficiency in training large-scale AI models. While it poses challenges in precision-sensitive tasks, hybrid methods are being developed to strike a balance between speed and accuracy.
Domestic innovation is also accelerating. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI start-up, recently unveiled its DeepSeek-V3.1 model optimized for next-generation local chips, signaling a closer integration between homegrown semiconductors and AI frameworks.
The Bigger Picture: Digital Economy and GDP Impact
Analysts stress that the surge in computing power is not just about technology, it is about the future of China’s economy. By 2035, artificial intelligence is expected to contribute over 11 trillion yuan to GDP, accounting for 4–5% of the national economy. This could increase computing demand by tenfold or even a hundredfold.
Ultimately, computing power has become the “new infrastructure” of China’s digital transformation. As AI continues to drive innovation, China’s rapid scaling of intelligent computing lays the groundwork for long-term competitiveness in the global digital economy.