China achieves 30% growth in AI cluster construction

China achieves 30% growth in AI cluster construction                          

China plans to create a unified computing network for training AI models

China is making progress in consolidating the country's disparate data centers into a comprehensive national computing network to support AI applications, according to data center developers.

The Open Data Center Committee of China (ODCC), an organization representing the country's major AI infrastructure investors, such as Alibaba Group Holding and China Telecom, hosted a three-day conference this week to discuss how to transform the country's remote data centers into a single, unified network.

By the end of June, China had built 10.85 million standard AI clusters, or sets of servers and tools for AI applications, a 30.7% increase over last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, according to a report published by SCMP.

This growth is attributed to continued investment in AI computing by state-owned telecom network operators, including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, as well as major private tech companies such as Tencent Holdings, Baidu, and Alibaba. While China is denied access to advanced US chips, the country's data center builders are seeking innovative ways to boost computing performance and share best practices.

He Zhiqun, a member of the ODCC's networking working group, said during the conference that there have been achievements in improving inter-chip communications in server clusters that use a mix of foreign and domestic semiconductors, which is important for AI training and inference, as large amounts of data are exchanged across chips.

He added that under the guidance of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a research center under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the group has established a networking laboratory to test communications between domestically produced chips and network switches. "This project has laid a solid foundation for the future development of GPU and switch chips in our country," He said, adding that AI-based computing power will be widespread in China in the future.

Li Daicheng, a member of the ODCC's Facilities Working Group, noted the importance of planning data center construction in a flexible and sustainable manner, taking into account factors such as land, energy, water, and climate resources, including the use of more green energy. The ODCC, a non-profit organization, was founded in 2014 under the guidance of the China Communications Standards Association.

The committee members include representatives from about 100 technology companies and related infrastructure organizations, including Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, China Telecom, and China Mobile. The importance of the ODCC, which aims to promote openness and innovation in areas such as servers, networks, and data centers, has been heightened amid the escalating AI race between the US and China.

The two countries have unveiled plans to ramp up the construction of AI data centers, which provide the computing resources needed to train and run AI models. The annual ODCC conference, which concludes Thursday, comes after Beijing unveiled its "AI Plus" plan in late August, which included a policy aimed at enhancing coordination and the provision of computing resources.