The reporter learned on January 6 that the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Data Administration, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued the "National Data Infrastructure Construction Guidelines" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), pointing out the specific construction direction from four aspects: data circulation and utilization, computing power base, network support, and security protection. At a special press conference held by the National Data Bureau on the same day, Chen Zhulin, deputy director of the National Data Bureau, said that the national data infrastructure will drive the circulation and utilization of data and the construction and upgrading of network, computing power, security and other facilities. According to preliminary estimates by the industry, data infrastructure will attract about 400 billion yuan of direct investment every year, driving the investment scale of about 2 trillion yuan in the next five years.

According to reports, the "Guidelines" is the first document on the construction of national data infrastructure in China, which expounds the concept connotation, development vision, overall functions, and overall architecture of national data infrastructure, and proposes three-stage goals to guide and promote.

Li Jianguo, deputy director of the Digital Technology and Infrastructure Construction Department of the National Data Administration, said that in the first phase, by 2 to 3 years, the first phase will be carried out to carry out pilot tests of data infrastructure technology routes in about 2 to 3 years, support some places, industries and fields to take the lead in trials, enrich the supply of solutions; complete the top-level design of national data infrastructure construction. The second phase will be completed by 2028 to build a data infrastructure that supports the large-scale circulation and interconnection of data, and basically form a credible circulation and utilization pattern of large-scale data across levels, regions, systems, departments and industries, and achieve basic coverage of large and medium-sized cities across the country. The third stage will be basically built by 2029, and a basic national data infrastructure structure will be initially formed, and a basic national data infrastructure pattern with horizontal connectivity, vertical connection and strong coordination will be initially formed, and the national data infrastructure construction and operation system and mechanism will be basically established.

"Research institutions predict that every 10% increase in data flow will drive GDP growth by 0.2%, and the average promotion rate of data flow to profit growth in various industries is about 10%."Du Wei, director of the Digital Technology and Infrastructure Construction Department of the National Data Bureau, introduced that the construction and operation of national data infrastructure is to support the large-scale data circulation and utilization of various regions, industries and enterprises, promote the full release of the value of data elements, give full play to the advantages of massive data and enrich scenarios, and provide impetus for my country to develop new quality productivity and build a digital China.

To promote the construction of national data infrastructure, network facilities are essential. As of the end of November 2024, the total number of 5G base stations in my country reached 4.191 million, and the number of 10G PON ports with gigabit network service capabilities reached 27.92 million. 27 national-level Internet backbone direct connection points including Nanning, Taiyuan, Harbin, etc., and five new Internet exchange centers including Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhongwei and Wuhan were built and operated in an orderly manner.

Sun Ji, deputy director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the next step will be to strengthen cooperation among multiple departments, promote related work in a systematic manner in accordance with the work ideas of "points, chains, networks, and surfaces", and continuously improve the comprehensive supply capacity of computing networks. Among them, network facilities will be built in moderation ahead of schedule, accelerate network upgrades to "connect the network", guide basic telecommunications companies to plan and build high-speed broadband networks, expand the coverage of gigabit networks, and orderly promote the evolution and upgrading of 5G networks. Deploy 400G trunk line and 800G metropolitan area high-speed optical transmission systems as needed to create high-speed and stable transmission channels to better support the circulation and utilization of data.

Computing power is an important foundation for promoting the construction of data infrastructure and leveraging the value of data elements. Zhao Zhidan, deputy director of the High Technology Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that in the next step, we will focus on accelerating the construction of computing power infrastructure from three aspects: coordinating the integrated layout of computing power resources, deepening the integrated application of computing power and industry, and promoting the coordinated development of computing power and green power, so as to better play the role of computing power as a base support.

Specifically, we will implement the "East Digital and West Computing" project in depth, strengthen the overall layout of computing power centers, accelerate the construction of a national integrated computing power network, promote the coordinated development of computing power in the east, central and western regions, and achieve efficient matching of the supply of computing power resources at national hub nodes with the computing power demands in various regions. Create a low-cost, high-quality and easy-to-use computing power service supply system; fully tap the computing power needs of key industries such as government affairs, finance, industry, and transportation, and promote the application of computing power in more production and life scenarios. Promote the green and low-carbon development of computing power centers, accelerate the transformation of energy conservation and carbon reduction and the update of energy-using equipment, and improve the energy efficiency level of computing power centers, etc.

The construction of data infrastructure is a long-term and systematic work. Focusing on promoting the implementation of the "Guidelines", Du Wei said that he will continue to support technology first; establish and improve incentive mechanisms, activate internal driving forces, promote the coordination between the central government and local governments and enterprises, and build and operate the national data infrastructure well; at the same time, he will continue to increase the support of central fiscal funds such as central budget investment and ultra-long-term treasury bond funds for the construction of national data infrastructure. Guide all regions and departments to provide key support in data infrastructure planning and layout, funding arrangements, and research, and attract social capital to participate in the construction of national data infrastructure.