AI Emerges as Top Economic Driver with H1 Growth Exceeding 30%

At a regular press conference held on the morning of July 31, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released a set of encouraging figures. The NDRC spokesperson highlighted that the artificial intelligence sector maintained a high growth rate of over 30% in the first half of the year, establishing itself as a powerful engine for economic expansion. This stellar performance is underpinned by systematic breakthroughs across multiple segments of the AI industrial chain.

Computing Power Foundation Solidified: Fully Domestic Supercluster Operational

Robust computing power is the bedrock of AI advancement. The conference revealed that China's first fully domestically developed 100,000-card AI supercluster is now officially in operation. This marks a milestone, signifying a new level of self-reliance and controllability from hardware to software.

By the end of June, the nation's total intelligent computing power scale had reached 2.8 times the level of the same period last year. This explosive growth not only provides ample "power" for large-scale model training and complex applications but also significantly lowers the threshold and cost of AI innovation.

Data Elements in Accelerated Flow: Over 120,000 High-Quality Datasets

If computing power is the engine, data is the fuel. Currently, the total number of high-quality AI datasets established in China has exceeded 120,000. These structured, cleaned, and annotated datasets span various fields including scientific research, industrial production, and social life.

The opening, sharing, and efficient utilization of data are creating powerful synergies with enhanced computing power and model innovation. NDRC spokesperson Jiang Yi described this as "a virtuous cycle where computing power, models, and data mutually reinforce and advance together". Once this cycle gains momentum, it continuously unleashes tremendous innovative potential.

Independent Innovation Accelerates, Next Steps Focus on Core Breakthroughs

The conference emphasized that the pace of independent innovation in AI noticeably quickened in the first half of the year. Rapid breakthroughs were achieved across the entire industrial chain—from underlying chips and basic software to algorithm frameworks and end-user applications.

For the future development path, the NDRC outlined key priorities:

  • Strengthen basic research and technological innovation to overcome core technologies;
  • Accelerate the opening and sharing of public data to break down data circulation barriers;
  • Advance the construction of AI training corpus systems to provide higher-quality "nourishment" for model training.

These measures aim to consolidate the current growth momentum, more solidly translate AI's technological advantages into industrial and economic strengths, and continuously empower the development of "new quality productive forces".