How much of the GDP is supported by the computing power in Guiyang?
When you think of Guizhou, what comes to mind?
Is it the mellow aroma of baijiu, the spicy freshness of sour soup fish, the grandeur of Huangguoshu Waterfall, or the refreshing coolness of a summer resort? These are indeed unique calling cards of Guizhou, but it has much more to offer.
Located on the Yunnan - Guizhou Plateau, with over 60% of its land featuring karst topography, Guizhou is endowed with abundant hydropower resources, a constant - temperature climate, and a stable geological structure.
These conditions have made Guizhou a natural cradle for the development of the data industry.
In 2015, Guiyang established the first big - data exchange in China. Since then, it has attracted the data centers of many well - known enterprises such as Alibaba, Tencent, Apple, and Huawei to settle one after another. As of 2024, 1,355 enterprises have gathered in the Guiyang Big Data Science and Innovation City.
Today, in the data center cluster of Guian New Area between Guiyang and Anshun, servers are running at high speed, continuously transmitting computing power to all parts of the country.
Meanwhile, from weather forecasting to transportation, from movie special - effect rendering to scientific research breakthroughs, the demand for computing power is surging from all directions and permeating every aspect of the general public's lives through the network. This has injected powerful digital impetus into Guiyang.
01. Why Guiyang?
As a mountain city on the Yunnan - Guizhou Plateau, due to its rugged terrain and the previous lag in transportation construction, Guiyang once faced challenges such as weak development momentum and slow resource transformation.
Data shows that before 2010, Guiyang's economic aggregate was less than 100 billion yuan, and it was difficult to rank among the top 100 cities in the country. In terms of industries, its industrial development mainly relied on chemical resources such as coal and phosphorus, and the data industry was virtually non - existent.
However, a turning point occurred in 2013.
At that time, big data was emerging globally, and China proposed to vigorously develop the data industry. During this period, Guiyang smelled the development opportunity, put forward the concept that "big data is the new engine for economic and social development", and made big data the core strategy for urban development.
Initially, the outside world was not optimistic about developing big data in the underdeveloped western region. But Guiyang has proved with facts that its stable geology (with no record of destructive earthquakes) and an annual temperature ranging from 15°C to 23°C provide a natural "thermostat" for data centers. At the same time, the abundant complementary power sources of "hydropower, thermal power, wind power, and solar power" have solved the electricity - consumption concerns of large energy - consuming data centers.
Relying on these unique advantages, in the second half of 2013, the three major telecommunications operators in China, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom, successively started construction of data centers in the under - construction Guian New Area. Taking this as an opportunity, Guiyang's big - data industry developed rapidly in the following years.
In 2015, Guizhou was approved to build the first national - level big - data pilot demonstration area in China - the Guiyang - Guian Big Data Industry Development Agglomeration Area, kicking off the prelude to big - data construction. In 2022, after the launch of the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project, the Guian Data Center Cluster became one of the top ten data center clusters in the country.
Guian Supercomputing Center. Source: Provided by Guian New Area Science and Innovation Industry Development Co., Ltd.
As a national - level development strategy, the so - called "Eastern Data, Western Computing" means sending the massive data generated in the east (such as online shopping records and video streams) to data centers in the west for processing and then sending back the results. This process is similar to the water resource allocation in the "South - to - North Water Diversion" project, except that this time it is the allocation of "computing power".
According to the plan, the project has started the construction of national computing power hub nodes in eight regions, including the Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area, the Chengdu - Chongqing area, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, and Ningxia, and planned 10 national data center clusters.
On the map of the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project, the four nodes of Guizhou, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Ningxia are all located in the western region. They all have suitable climates and renewable energy sources and are all positioned by the state as "non - real - time computing power guarantee bases for the whole country". So, what are Guizhou's advantages and special features?
In comparison, Guizhou has three major advantages in the development of computing power: early start, strong computing power, and concentration in the provincial capital.
In terms of the start time, the construction of the Guian Data Center started in 2014 and has been in operation for 10 years. It ranks third among the top ten data center clusters in the country, 0.4 years earlier than the national average and 1.2 years earlier than the eastern average. Although it is 0.8 years later than the western average, it is still in the first - mover echelon.
In terms of computing power, according to the calculation of the research group of the Guizhou Academy of Social Sciences, the computing power guarantee index of the Guian Data Center Cluster is 57.02, ranking first among the top ten data center clusters in the country.
In terms of urban level, it is worth mentioning that in October 2019, Guizhou launched the integrated development of Guiyang and Guian, and the two places promoted resource sharing, element sharing, and functional complementarity. The Guian Data Center Cluster is the only data center cluster in the western cluster located in a provincial - capital city and a national - level new area.
This geographical advantage enables it to fully leverage the industrial foundation, talent resources, and transportation network of Guiyang and Guian to provide strong support for its own development.
Today, Guiyang and Guian have become the first big - data comprehensive experimental area in China and the core area of the first batch of national data element comprehensive experimental areas. Centering on the strategic positioning of an important economic growth pole in the western region, they have formed industrial clusters such as big - data electronic information manufacturing.
02. The Dividends of Computing Power
With the continuous in - depth development of the computing - power industry, it has not only given birth to Guiyang's rendering industry but also enabled the scientific research work of many universities to enjoy the dividends brought by computing power.
On the one hand, Guiyang uses its powerful computing - power resources to provide efficient rendering services for fields such as film special effects and animation production. On the other hand, Guiyang actively deploys scientific research computing power to support universities, scientific research institutions, and enterprises in carrying out frontier scientific research.
In terms of movie rendering, the Guian Supercomputing Center has become one of the largest rendering service centers for film and television production in southern China. It has provided rendering services for more than 150 film and television works, including Nezha: Rebirth of the Demon, The Wandering Earth 2, The Deep, Boonie Bears: Back to Earth, and Three - Body.
Taking Nezha: Rebirth of the Demon as an example, the visual effects such as the gorgeous and floating dragon's hair and the surging magma in the cracked sky in the film all rely on efficient computing - power support.
Li Beihong, the executive director and general manager of Guian New Area Science and Innovation Industry Development Co., Ltd., told a reporter from Times Weekly that the Guian Supercomputing Center provided more than 40% of the special - effect shot rendering for the whole movie, and at the peak, it called 1,000 high - performance graphics cards. Such a large - scale rendering computing - power cluster was unique in China at that time.
How fast is the computing speed of such a large - scale computing - power cluster? It is reported that with the computing power of 300 quadrillion operations per second of the Guian Supercomputing Center, the rendering task that originally took 600 years on a single machine has been compressed to nearly 3 years.
Machine room of the supercomputing center. Source: Provided by Guian New Area Science and Innovation Industry Development Co., Ltd.
In terms of scientific research, since 2020, the Guian Supercomputing Center has cumulatively provided 30 million GPU hours of computing power to multiple provinces and cities such as Guangdong, Shanghai, Hubei, and Sichuan in fields such as biomedical big data, industrial simulation, astronomical calculation, and building earthquake resistance, and has continuously provided more than 3,300 times of scientific research services to universities such as Guizhou University, Guizhou Normal University, and Kunming University of Science and Technology.
This means that the Guian Supercomputing Center has become a computing - power hub that radiates multiple provinces and cities across the country and supports interdisciplinary scientific research.
The development of computing power has also activated the upstream and downstream industries such as server manufacturing, cloud computing, data security, and AI applications and driven investment. According to the statistical bulletin data of Guiyang in 2024, the investment in Guiyang's Internet and related service industries increased by 27.9%, driving the investment in high - tech service industries to increase by 22.9%. This investment growth rate is second only to that of the chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing industry.
It is worth noting that due to the rich mineral resources in Guiyang, mining, processing, and transformation have always been the pillars of Guiyang's industry. Today, traditional industries are also leveraging digitalization to improve production efficiency.
Taking Guizhou Tire in Guiyang as an example, since 2022, the enterprise has comprehensively introduced the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies and connected to the 5G network. Through the big - data platform, it provides decision - making analysis for management, not only achieving efficient supply - chain collaboration but also promoting unified management of sales, procurement, and production.
It is understood that in the production workshop, the application of the fully automatic integrated bead forming system alone has reduced the labor force by 50%, decreased the transfer time by 90%, increased the production efficiency by 60%, and improved the first - pass qualification rate by 15 percentage points.
Data shows that thanks to the digital transformation practices of many enterprises, in 2024, Guiyang and Guian have gathered more than 7,400 big - data enterprises, and the added value of the digital economy accounts for 53.3% of the GDP.
03. Beyond "Computing"
Last year, there was new progress in Guizhou's computing - power industry.
Data shows that in 2024, the total computing - power scale of the whole province exceeded 55 EFlops (quintillion floating - point operations per second), doubling compared with 2023. Among them, intelligent computing accounted for more than 90%, making Guizhou one of the regions with the most intelligent - computing resources and the strongest capabilities in the country.
However, although it has the most intelligent - computing resources, in the intelligent era, the computing - power industry is no longer limited to "computing".
In 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission and other three departments issued the Guidelines for the Construction of National Data Infrastructure, which mentioned that by 2029, a basic pattern of national data infrastructure that is horizontally connected, vertically integrated, and coordinated will be initially formed, and the institutional mechanisms for the construction and operation of national data infrastructure will be basically established.
This year's government work report emphasized the status of "AI +" as the engine of new - quality productivity and required "moderately advanced construction of digital infrastructure".
If the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project solves the problems of resource allocation and efficient utilization of data and computing power, then the construction of digital infrastructure can manage, improve, share, and process these data more efficiently and safely.
For example, different transportation modes in a city, such as buses, subways, and taxis, operate independently, and their data is not interconnected. If we want to achieve the coordinated scheduling of transportation tools and improve travel efficiency, we need to break the digital barriers and achieve data interconnection. However, if each transportation department develops a data - connection plan independently, it will not only be costly but also inefficient.
Therefore, it is necessary for all regions to build data - centered infrastructure to support data applications across regions, systems, and fields. This shows that in the intelligent era, whoever integrates computing power and data into the city's bloodstream first will take the lead in the competition.
In contrast, in Guizhou, if we compare artificial - intelligence products such as large models to a growing tree, data is the nutrients in the soil, and computing power is the root system rooted in the soil. Currently, Guizhou already has sufficient nutrients and a developed root system, but there is still room for improvement in the speed at which the branches extend to more scenarios and bear commercial fruits.
For example, in Zhuhai, relying on a complete low - altitude industrial chain and supply chain, real - time low - altitude data (airspace traffic, weather, aircraft status) is connected to the urban operation system. Based on a unified data base, drone delivery, aerial patrols, and dynamic scheduling of commuting routes have truly integrated computing power into the daily lives of citizens.
A relevant person in charge of the Guiyang Big Data Bureau told a reporter from Times Weekly that currently, Guiyang is making every effort to promote the empowerment of the government, enterprises, grass - roots units, and the public with data and AI, and promote the digital transformation of the entire city.
In terms of empowering grass - roots units, Guiyang focuses on problems such as the shortage of professional medical and technical personnel and weak service capabilities at the grass - roots level and has built the "39AI General Practitioner" platform. Through training large models with medical data, it provides a "general - practitioner" knowledge base for grass - roots medical staff. Currently, 63 grass - roots medical institutions and 415 doctors have opened accounts on the "39AI General Practitioner" platform, and the platform has provided more than 500,000 consultation and diagnosis services in total.
"Next, we will vigorously promote the construction of the city's trusted data space, accelerate the construction of the city's data - resource system, focus on empowering the digital development of the city's characteristic and advantageous industries, promote the integrated application of public data, enterprise data, and personal data, create a number of innovative data products and services, further promote the safe and compliant application of data, and stimulate the city's innovation and development vitality," said the relevant person in charge of the Guiyang Big Data Bureau.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Reading the City Studio", author: Alimire. Republished by 36Kr with permission.