China heats up AI race by launching giant computing power pool

China has activated a massive artificial intelligence (AI) computing power pool, but it remains to be seen whether it will give the country a competitive advantage in the intense AI race.

The large-scale, distributed AI-computing network, known as the Future Network Test Facility (FNTF), started operating last week, according to state-run Science and Technology Daily.

The network connects 40 cities across China, with a total optical transmission length exceeding 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometres).

According to Chinese media, the computing power pool formed via this network could achieve 98% of the efficiency of a single data centre.

The article states that a 72-terabyte dataset was transmitted across 621 miles in 1.6 hours. Using the traditional internet, it would have taken 699 days.

As the Chinese media is tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China, its reports should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, if the FNTF’s capabilities aren’t exaggerated, it would allow China’s top computing centres scattered across the country to work as a unified system and be used to fast-track the development of powerful AI models, according to the South China Morning Post.

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The FNTF is part of China’s national “East Data, West Computing” initiative, outlined in 2013, which aims to connect resource-rich regions in western China to parts of eastern China, where data and AI development demand are highest.

The network comes into operation amid a tight AI race between the United States and China to achieve technical superiority.

Despite the rivalry, President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Nvidia's H200 chips would be allowed to be shipped from the US to China, reversing the ban imposed by the Biden administration. The chips are considered a central and critical piece of AI technology.

​​Critics say such a policy U-turn may challenge US companies’ competitiveness in international markets, as Nvidia’s chips will support China’s ability to build frontier AI models.

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