AI-powered computing, connectivity in focus

China will seize the strategic opportunities of next-generation communications network construction to consolidate its digital and intelligent foundation, a senior official said, as the country's major telecom carriers detailed ambitious plans for artificial intelligence-powered computing and connectivity.

Speaking at PT Expo, a Chinese telecom industry expo in Beijing on Wednesday, Yu Xiaohui, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, outlined a five-point roadmap for the sector. He noted that next-generation communications networks are entering a major transformation period driven by AI, 6G and satellite internet, calling for application-led, moderately advanced and systematically coordinated network development.

Yu urged the industry to push forward low-orbit satellite internet system construction, optimize international submarine and land cable layouts, and expand computing infrastructure capacity. He also called for strengthening computing-network coordination to better support integrated computing network development.

On innovation, Yu said the information and communications industry must place technological innovation in a more prominent position, accelerating 6G core technology research and standards development to ensure a leading edge. He called for strengthened innovation in AI, quantum technology, information photonics and smart terminals to cultivate emerging and future industries.

Yu also emphasized deepening the digital transformation of the economy, advancing industrial internet development and promoting AI integration with communications networks. He said the industry should proactively assess AI's transformative impact on network systems and study agent interconnection, interoperability, mutual trust and security.

According to MIIT data, China had built 5.154 million 5G base stations by the end of July this year, making the country an important driving force in global communications technology innovation. Its research and development of key technologies such as 5G-Advanced and 6G technologies, along with international standards development, places it in the global first tier.

China has more than 80,000 5G virtual private industrial networks and over 26,000 industrial 5G private network projects. It has built 1,260 categorized, distinctive 5G factories, while dual-gigabit applications combining 5G and optical networks have been integrated into all 97 major categories of the national economy, demonstrating the multiplying effect of digital and intelligent technologies across industries.

Qiu Baohua, deputy general manager of China Unicom, said the company regards connectivity as its foundation, with total connections now exceeding 1.3 billion and expanding from connecting people and things to connecting bodies and intelligence.

China Unicom has built a global computing-network scheduling hub, achieving industry-leading cross-domain heterogeneous mixed training and inference. The platform is deeply adapted to 30 domestic chips and aggregates 300 mainstream large language models, with overall computing efficiency tripled compared with the start of the year, enabling computing power to be scheduled on demand, delivered across regions and respond rapidly — making token generation faster and more affordable, Qiu added.

Liu Guiqing, general manager of China Telecom, said the company has built 16 hundred-megawatt-level data center parks, making it the country's largest AI data center service provider.

China Telecom's Xirang platform now manages over 118 exaflops of computing power, enabling cross-regional, cross-architecture and cross-provider scheduling, Liu said.

The company introduced the industry's first token operation system in March, which Liu described as an intelligent cloud system integrating computing, platform, data, models and applications. Its Token Hub platform aggregates more than 170 large language models, while its self-developed TeleAgent has attracted over 1.5 million users and over 200,000 daily active users.

masi@chinadaily.com.cn