China plans to spend US$295 billion to promote the construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure nationwide

On June 9, Bloomberg reported that China plans to invest about 2 trillion yuan (US$295 billion) in the next five years to build data centers nationwide to revitalize the domestic artificial intelligence industry. According to people familiar with the matter, key government agencies, including the National Development and Reform Commission, are drafting a blueprint aimed at building a network of interconnected computing centers across the country. State-owned companies such as China Mobile and China Telecom will operate most of the data centers and ensure that they are connected to each other, one of the people familiar with the matter said. People familiar with the matter said that the plan aims to rely on local suppliers such as Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. for at least 80% of technologies such as AI chips, thereby effectively squeezing the market share of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.