This "world factory" aims to build a "growth pole" of computing power.

According to "Dongguan Release" and Dongguan Daily, at the 2026 Server Industry Supply-Demand Matching Event recently held in Dongguan, Dongguan officially unveiled its "One Policy, One Island" initiative: the city's first dedicated AI server industrial policy, the "Dongguan Municipality Implementation Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of the AI Server Industry" (hereafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), along with the core carrier "Dongguan Computing Power Industry Island", extending an invitation to enterprises worldwide to establish operations in the region.

As Dongguan's first dedicated industrial support policy document focused specifically on the server track, the Implementation Plan sets a core target of Dongguan's full server industrial chain output value exceeding 500 billion yuan by 2030, specifying the cultivation of 1 to 2 leading chain enterprises with a 100-billion-yuan scale, 3 to 5 backbone enterprises with a 10-billion-yuan scale, gathering a group of specialized, refined, differential, and innovative supporting manufacturers in niche fields, and building a complete industrial ecosystem covering "core components - complete machine manufacturing - system integration - computing power operation - industry applications".

The Dongguan Computing Power Industry Island serves as the core fulcrum of Dongguan's "One Island, Multiple Poles, Global Coordination" computing power layout. Over the next five years, Dongguan plans to invest hundreds of billions of yuan to develop approximately 9,000 mu of land within the island. By 2030, it aims to become the core growth pole of the city's 500-billion-yuan AI server industrial cluster.

In the era of artificial intelligence, the global industrial landscape is being reshaped at an unprecedented pace. Dongguan, once known as the "World Factory", is now quietly upgrading itself into a "Computing Power Factory".

Reviewing the policy context over the past two years, this transformation is not a random initiative, but a gradual and systematic deployment.

In April 2025, at the city's High-Quality Development Conference for the Artificial Intelligence Industry, Dongguan explicitly designated artificial intelligence as the key engine for promoting the development of new quality productive forces, vowing to "mobilize the entire city to seize the new artificial intelligence track".

In December of the same year, the 10th Plenary Session of the 15th Dongguan Municipal Party Committee further established an artificial intelligence-led innovative industrial development orientation.

This May, the "Overall Implementation Plan for the Construction of Dongguan Global Intelligent Manufacturing Center (2026-2030)" was released, marking the official transition of this transformation from a strategic vision to a full-scale implementation phase.

So why is Dongguan targeting the computing power industry this time?

The logic is not complicated. Computing power is the "water, electricity, and coal" of the AI era, while servers are the physical foundation that underpins the operation of computing power — from complete machine manufacturing, liquid cooling heat dissipation, and PCBs to power systems, high-speed connectors, and optical modules, every single AI server drives the coordination of an entire industrial chain.

What many people do not know is that 1 in every 10 servers nationwide is manufactured in Dongguan. In 2025, Dongguan's server output approached 600,000 units, with the full industrial chain output value nearing 100 billion yuan.

More critically, all server components can be fully sourced locally in one stop, with 95% of the components available for supporting production within a "one-hour industrial circle".

This extreme supply chain efficiency is precisely the foundation of Dongguan's confidence in aiming for a world-class server industrial cluster.

And the Computing Power Industry Island is the key move in this grand strategic game.

As a rare dedicated computing power hardware industrial zone in the Pearl River Delta with the largest contiguous scale in Dongguan, the Computing Power Industry Island is located at the geometric center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with 30-minute access to the main urban areas of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, 1-hour coverage of the three major international airports in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, boasting the prime Lion Ocean coastline, adjacent to Dongguan Port, with convenient multi-modal transport integrating air, rail, road and waterway, giving it significant location advantages.

In Dongguan's computing power landscape, Songshan Lake focuses on chip R&D, Binhai Bay concentrates on intelligent computing, the Longfeng New Area deploys advanced packaging and testing, and towns such as Dongkeng and Qishi are responsible for supporting manufacturing. All sectors collaborate and divide labor around the Computing Power Industry Island, forming a complete ecosystem of "One Island, Multiple Poles, Global Coordination".

This major manufacturing city is on the computing power track, exploring the possibility of achieving a critical leap forward.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "City Evolution Theory", and is republished by 36Kr with authorization.