Guangdong province, known as the economic hub of southern China, has introduced 45 initiatives aimed at promoting the adoption of AI across various industries to drive technological advancement. These measures, announced by the provincial government last week, set targets for the artificial intelligence sector to achieve a value of 300 billion yuan (US$41.4 billion) by next year and 440 billion yuan by 2027. These goals correspond to 2.3 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, of the province's GDP in 2023.
Guangdong province has announced plans for its computing power to surpass 40 exaflops by next year and reach 60 exaflops by 2027, utilizing the measure of computational speed which indicates the number of floating-point operations a computer or system can execute per second. China has established an objective for its national computing performance to achieve 300 exaflops by 2025. If these objectives are met, Guangdong will contribute approximately 13 percent to China's overall computing capacity.
“These measures were crafted to promote high-quality development in the province’s AI industry, to swiftly build new productive forces, to construct a modern industrial system, and to empower various sectors to enhance quality and efficiency”, the announcement said. The new initiatives also aim for the “basic formation of a leading national algorithm system and computing power network system by 2027”.
The measures require AI to be adopted in such fields as social governance, the digital economy and industrial innovation. They aim to apply the technology in sectors ranging from manufacturing to education and senior care. This strategic move seeks to establish a mature artificial intelligence industrial chain in Guangdong, from the development and sourcing of chips to computational infrastructure, algorithm design, and deployment of AI-driven applications.
In recent years, China has been swiftly enhancing its artificial intelligence capabilities, with a particular emphasis on developing innovations akin to ChatGPT for driving economic expansion and competing with the United States. Washington has responded by imposing strict technological constraints aimed at constraining China's technological and economic advancement. These actions have included banning companies like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices from exporting their cutting-edge semiconductor chips and technologies to China, citing national security concerns.
These circumstances have paved the way for substantial advancements in AI within China as the nation endeavors to navigate and offset the pressures imposed by the United States. As part of these efforts, Guangdong will escalate endeavors to enhance the provision of essential AI chip components.
“We are aiming to foster an innovative AI development ecosystem for chips, exploring integrated memory and computation, brain-inspired computing, chiplets, and instruction sets in both research and application”, the announcement said. It added that the goal is to improve the use of these chips in cloud and end-user applications and expand the use of high-performance cloud servers. The province said it would work to ensure the smooth implementation of the objectives, including talent cultivation and policy support.
The province plans to establish guidelines for dependable AI products and services while introducing incentives to encourage innovative offerings. Additionally, it aims to attract leading AI professionals through policy incentives and will execute training initiatives focused on essential technical competencies to cultivate a robust AI knowledge base within the region. China's AI education is flourishing, as demonstrated by endeavors like those undertaken at Fudan University in Shanghai.