Guangdong bolstering server, computing strengths

Guangdong province is building on its robust server industry strength and experience to advance the upgrade of computing infrastructure for higher efficiency, technological self-reliance and low-carbon growth, transforming the province from a major manufacturing center into a global intelligent computing hub.

Dongguan, a heavily industrialized city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, recently launched a global investment promotion for construction of its computing power industry island.

Under the municipal top-level plan, Dongguan plans to invest 100 billion yuan ($14.75 billion) in developing and constructing the industry island over the next five years with separate development targets, said Zeng Jianpeng, executive vice-mayor of Dongguan.

Zeng made the remarks at a server industry supply-demand matching event held recently in Dongguan.

By 2030, the island — which covers a planned area of about 6 square kilometers — will grow into the core growth engine of Dongguan's 500-billion-yuan AI server industry cluster, he said.

Wang Lijuan, deputy director of the Guangdong department of industry and information technology, said Dongguan serves as Guangdong's core carrier for computing hardware.

"The department will fully support Dongguan in scaling up its AI server industry, enabling Guangdong to contribute to boosting the global competitiveness of China's AI server sector," Wang said.

In 2025, Guangdong produced about 2.95 million servers, accounting for 49.3 percent of China's total output, claiming nearly half of the national market, according to official statistics.

Guangdong boasted a total of 1,533 industrial enterprises above designated size engaged in computer manufacturing last year, accounting for 45.1 percent of China's total computer makers.

Home to leading firms such as Huawei and Foxconn Industrial Internet, the province has fostered a complete industrial chain spanning chips, components and finished computers.

Authorities said that as the "mother machine of computing power" in the era of the digital economy, the server industry has emerged as a key driver for Guangdong to transform from a major manufacturing province into a global intelligent computing hub.

Xu Xiaomin, secretary-general of Guangdong's electronics and information industry association, said that as generative AI applications are rolled out at an accelerated pace, Guangdong's server shipment share of inference servers is expected to surpass 50 percent for the first time in 2026, overtaking training servers to become the mainstream product in the market.

"This signals a full shift of the industry from model research and development to commercial application," said Xu.

The strength of Guangdong lies in its fully connected industrial chain and integrated production and marketing, he said, adding that as China's largest manufacturing hub for the electronic information sector, Guangdong has established a closed-loop ecosystem spanning upstream component supply, midstream complete machine manufacturing and local downstream computing power absorption.

Xu urged Guangdong to further boost the coordinated adaptation of hardware and software.

"Capitalizing on its geographic advantage of 'production sites as market destinations', Guangdong should open up application scenarios and drive the AI server industry to shift from scale expansion toward high-efficiency, self-reliant and controllable development."

Wei Cailiang, senior vice-president of Guangdong HEC Technology Holding Co Ltd, said his company has built a full-chain business covering green energy, advanced manufacturing, computing power operation and AI applications.

In April, Wei's company set up its computing power operation entity in Dongguan, and backed by computing power service orders worth 39-46 billion yuan, it achieves efficient R&D and mass production relying on Dongguan's one-hour industrial circle with 95 percent local supporting capacity.