China Builds National Computing Network as AI Token Demand Surges

China is stepping up construction of a national computing network, aiming to turn artificial intelligence infrastructure into a public utility. This initiative responds to surging AI token usage and telecoms operators' search for new growth avenues beyond mobile data and phone bills.

Credit: UNSPLASH

National broadcaster China Central Television and state-backed Xinhua news agency described the network as a "computing version of the state grid." They likened AI tokens – the basic units of text, code, and other information processed by AI models – to mobile data.

This framing presents tokens as the measurable commodity of the AI era. Daily token calls in China surpassed 140 trillion in March, a level over 1,000 times higher than at the start of 2024, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Reports indicate rising AI model costs are beginning to impact developers and businesses. This situation echoes the early days of the mobile internet, where slow speeds and high charges eventually gave way to cheap, accessible mobile data after the roll-out of 4G and 5G networks.

Beijing frames computing power as a national infrastructure system, rather than treating it as a resource controlled by cloud providers or individual data centres. It is prioritised alongside water networks, power grids, next-generation communications, urban underground pipelines, and logistics systems, collectively known as the "six networks."

Official documents for the 15th five-year plan period call for a "multilayered computing infrastructure system" and a "national integrated computing power network." This language points to Beijing's ambition to connect data centres, supercomputing facilities, and intelligent-computing clusters across regions.

Earlier this month, the State Council called for stronger planning and construction of these six networks. The National Development and Reform Commission expects investment in these networks and related areas to exceed 7 trillion yuan (USD 1 trillion) this year.

China's major telecoms carriers are quickly aligning with this shift. With traditional communications revenue under pressure, they are betting on cloud, computing power, and AI services, packaging tokens as the next mass-market commodity.

Shanghai Telecom on Friday launched token-based AI computing packages, including a pay-as-you-go plan. One yuan purchased 250,000 quota points, roughly equivalent to 250,000 input tokens on Kimi-K2.5, according to local reports.

Users of this service can access more than 30 mainstream large models through standard application programming interfaces and pay via their phone bills, the company said. Shanghai Unicom also introduced token services for one-person companies.

Shanghai Unicom's offerings include free test quotas and discounts on Token Plan and Coding Plan products. Provincial branches of China Mobile and China Unicom have rolled out similar packages.

These packages sometimes bundle AI tokens with broadband, cloud desktops, and developer tools.

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• China is establishing a national computing power network, treating artificial intelligence infrastructure as a public utility.

• AI tokens, compared to mobile data, saw daily calls exceed 140 trillion in March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

• Policymakers view computing power as a national infrastructure system, part of the "six networks" alongside other key utilities.

Source: SCMP