Digital infrastructure is composed of computing power infrastructure, network infrastructure, and application infrastructure, together establishing the cornerstone for Digital China. To consolidate the foundation for Digital China construction, we must first start from these three aspects and open up the aorta of digital infrastructure.
“Digital China Construction Series (Lesson 2 of 13): “Open the Aorta of Digital Infrastructure,” Beijing Party Member Education Network, April 11, 2025
On April 11, 2025, the Beijing Party Member Education Network released a remarkable 13-lesson educational series on China’s national digital strategy, Digital China. Designed as a foundational introduction, the course targets Party cadre and members and is intended to raise awareness, elevate political understanding, and standardize implementation.
Lesson Two introduces the Party’s concept of digital infrastructure through the strategic lens of “New Type Infrastructure” and uses Xi Jinping’s “information aorta” metaphor to make a highly technical topic more legible to non-technical cadre. The lesson also makes its central point unmistakably clear: the Party must accelerate the national deployment of digital infrastructure.
Digital Infrastructure as Strategic “Means”
Lesson Two frames digital infrastructure as a Party-led industrial policy framework that seeks to build systemic digital ecosystems in support of economic growth, national security, social stability, and technological innovation. In the tiering framework for New Type Infrastructure (NTI)1, digital technologies sit across several levels but together serve as a core strategic “means” to achieve the Party’s elite “digital triad”2: Cyber Great Power, Digital China, and Smart Society.
The lesson also serves as a historical marker for the Party’s intense focus on rolling out Dual Gigabit infrastructure (5G plus gigabit optical fiber), an NTI Tier 3 category, across urban and rural areas between 2021 and 2024. During this period, Dual Gigabit deployment was a central theme in recurring domestic propaganda campaigns, used to showcase Digital China to the general public and to signal the Party’s commitment to improving the People’s Livelihood through digital transformation.
Infrastructure First, Data and Apps Second
Lesson Two echoes a now-familiar directive on Digital China implementation to Party cadre nationwide: “no waiting, no watching, and no slacking.” Even so, from 2018 onward some Chinese experts publicly questioned Xi Jinping’s decision to prioritize digital infrastructure, especially Dual Gigabit, over investments in high-quality datasets and intelligent applications.
This was not a dispute over the importance of data or applications, but over sequencing: what is the fastest route to data intelligence? Xi’s answer was clear. Build digital infrastructure ahead of demand, before users, applications, or even data are in place, and China will be positioned to shape markets, set standards, and define governance. It was a digital-age version of “build it and they will come.”
DeepSeek as Retroactive Justification
The release of DeepSeek-RI in January 2025 effectively silenced those critics. In the Party’s own telling, DeepSeek’s performance confirmed that Xi had been right all along: the massive build-out of communications networks and computing power infrastructure had created a ready-made foundation for a surge in intelligent data.
Since then, domestic media coverage has shifted emphasis away from Dual Gigabit to another NTI Tier 3 technology: artificial intelligence. But Lesson Two transports us back to late 2023 and early 2024, when the Party’s exhortations to cadre were still centered on two NTI Tier 2 categories: Communications Network Infrastructure (Dual Gigabit, Internet of Things, and satellite systems including BeiDou) and Computing Power Infrastructure (data centers and computing centers).
A Series Roadmap
If you are new to Digital China, you may want to begin with my overview of the strategy and a shortlist of key concepts that cadre are expected to master. Both will help you navigate the lessons.
Let’s continue the series with Lesson Two:
Each lesson’s web address is linked to its original Chinese-language title. Note: Some of these links may have security certificate issues. For your safety, I’ve also embedded a clean, archived copy of each video in the corresponding post. You can choose which version to view, but I recommend using the archived copy for a safer experience.
“Digital China Construction Series 2: Open the Aorta of Digital Infrastructure” (数字中国建设系列之二：打通数字基础设施大动脉), Beijing Party Member Education Network (北京党员教育网）, April 11, 2025
Archived Video
Speaker: Beijing Guoheng Zhilin Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. (北京国恒智林文化传播有限公司)
Length: 10:45 Minutes
Synopsis: Digital infrastructure is composed of computing power infrastructure, network infrastructure, and application infrastructure, together establishing the cornerstone for Digital China. To consolidate the foundation for Digital China construction, we must first start from these three aspects and open up the aorta of digital infrastructure.
简介：数字基础设施由算力基础设施、网络基础设施和应用基础设施共同构成，奠定了数字中国大厦的基石。要夯实数字中国建设基础，首先要从这三个方面入手，打通数字基础设施大动脉。
Terminology shortlist with footnoted definitions: computing power infrastructure, network infrastructure, application infrastructure3 (算力基础设施, 网络基础设施, 应用基础设施), aorta of digital infrastructure4 (数字基础设施大动脉).
Video Transcript and Translation:
Terminology shortlist and other key terms are highlighted in blue.
00:24
At the end of 2022, the phenomenal application ChatGPT emerged and attracted widespread attention. It is a natural language processing tool driven by artificial intelligence technology. Its fluent human-computer dialogue and multi-domain general problem-solving capabilities are amazing, and its success is mainly due to the powerful supply of computing power by Arger, a giant cloud service provider.
2022年底，现象级应用 ChatGPT 横空出世，引发广泛关注。它是由人工智能技术驱动的自然语言处理工具。其流畅的人机对话和多领域通用问题解决能力令人惊叹，而它的成功主要得益于云服务商巨头 Arger 强大的算力供给。
00:48
Computing power is a core factor of production in the new era, a new engine driving the digitalized transformation of the economy and society, and a new focus of global strategic competition. Computing power infrastructure is the carrier for the operation of information systems in various industries. It, together with network infrastructure and application infrastructure, constitutes digital infrastructure. This establishes the cornerstone for Digital China.
算力是新时代的核心生产力，是驱动经济社会数字化转型的新引擎，是全球战略竞争的新焦点。算力基础设施是各行业信息系统运行的载体，它和网络基础设施、应用基础设施等共同构成数字基础设施。奠定了数字中国大厦的基石。
01:14
Digital infrastructure is an infrastructure system driven by data innovation, based on communication networks, and centered on data computing facilities. To consolidate the foundation for constructing Digital China, we must first open the aorta of digital infrastructure. According to the “Plan for the Global Layout of Digital China Construction,” the focus is mainly on three aspects.
数字基础设施是以数据创新为驱动，通信网络为基础，数据算力设施为核心的基础设施体系。要夯实数字中国建设基础，首先要打通数字基础设施大动脉。按照 “数字中国建设整体布局规划,” 其着力点主要在三个方面。
01:42
First is network infrastructure. We should accelerate the coordinated construction of 5G networks and gigabit optical networks, further promote the large-scale deployment and application of IPv6, and promote the comprehensive development of the mobile Internet of Things. We should vigorously promote the large-scale application of Beidou. The “dual gigabit network” composed of 5G and gigabit optical networks is the core support and “digital foundation” of New Type Network Infrastructure. Advancing the coordinated development of 5G and gigabit optical networks has always been a key task in the construction of Digital China.
一是网络基础设施方面。要加快5G 网络与千兆光网协同建设，深入推进 IPv6规模部署和应用，推进移动物联网全面发展。大力推进北斗规模应用。5G 和千兆光网构成的“双千兆”网络，是新型网络基础设施的核心支撑和“数字底座.” 推动5G 和千兆光网协同发展一直是数字中国建设的重点工作。
02:15
The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan points out that it is necessary to accelerate the large-scale deployment of 5G networks and advance the upgrading of gigabit optical fiber networks. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Action Plan for the Coordinated Development of Dual Gigabit Networks, 2021-2023. The plan basically calls for building a dual gigabit network infrastructure that fully covers urban areas and qualified townships in three years and achieves universal gigabit-to-home capabilities for fixed and mobile networks.
”十四五”规划”纲要”指出，加快5G 网络规模化部署，推广升级千兆光纤网络。工信部出台”双千兆”网络协同发展行动计划 (2021-2023年)。计划用3年时间，基本建成全面覆盖城市地区和有条件乡镇的”双千兆”网络基础设施 实现固定和移动网络普遍具备”千兆到户”能力。
02:42
Our country has built the world’s largest and most technologically advanced fiber-optic and mobile broadband networks. By the end of 2022, the total length of optical cable lines reached 59.58 million kilometers. 110 cities in China have met the gigabit city construction standards. 5G construction also continues to lead the world, with a total of 2.312 million 5G base stations built and put into operation, accounting for more than 60% of the world’s total base stations.
目前我国已建成全球规模最大、技术领先的光纤和移动宽带网络。截至2022年底，光缆线路总长度达5,958万公里。全国有110个城市达到千兆城市建设标准。5G 建设也继续保持全球领先，累计建成并开通5G 基站231.2万个，基站总量占全球60%以上。
03:14
While continuing to deepen coverage in the urban areas of prefecture-level cities, we will gradually extend to towns and rural areas as needed, so that “every county can have 5G” and “every village can have broadband”. IPV6 is the abbreviation of Internet Protocol Version 6, and the total number of its addresses is said to be enough “to encode an address for every grain of sand in the world.” It can effectively solve the problem of IPv4 address exhaustion.
在持续深化地级市城区覆盖的同时，逐步按需向乡镇和农村地区延伸，实现”县县通5G” “村村通宽带”。IPv6是互联网协议第六版的英文缩写，其地址数量号称”可以为全世界的每一粒沙子编上一个地址”。可以有效解决 IPv4地址枯竭问题。
03:42
In 2017, the central government issued the “Action Plan for Large-Scale Deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan proposed to comprehensively advance the commercial use of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). As of August 2022, the number of active IPV6 users in our country reached 713.7 million, accounting for 67.9% of the total number of netizens.
2017年，中央印发”推进互联网协议第六版 (IPv6) 规模部署行动计划”。”十四五”规划”纲要”提出，全面推进互联网协议第六版 (I P v 6) 商用部署。截至2022年8月，我国 IPv6活跃用户数达7.137亿，占网民总数的67.9%。
04:08
The number of users has increased significantly. However, due to the lack of IPv6 support in Internet application services, the actual share of IPv6 traffic is very limited. At the same time, IPv6 network construction and application innovation continue to accelerate around the world. If you are not moving IPv6 development forward, you are falling behind. Advancing slowly is the same as falling behind. The large-scale deployment and application of IPv6 needs to be further advanced.
用户数量增长显著。但由于互联网应用服务的 IPv6支持不足，IPv6流量的实际占比非常有限。与此同时，全球范围内 I P v 6网络建设与应用创新持续加速。I P v 6的发展是不进则退，缓进亦退。其规模部署和应用需要深入推进。
04:37
The mobile Internet of Things is an Internet of Things technology and application based on cellular mobile communication networks. Through multi-network collaboration, it realizes ubiquitous connection and a digital information infrastructure for the intelligent connection of all things. It has achieved large-scale applications in areas such as digital city construction, intelligent manufacturing, smart transportation, and mobile payment and has profoundly changed people’s lifestyles.
移动物联网是基于蜂窝移动通信网络的物联网技术和应用，通过多网协同，实现泛在连接，万物智联的数字信息基础设施。它在数字城市建设、智能制造、智慧交通、移动支付等领域实现了较大规模应用，深刻的改变了人们的生活方式。
05:01
According to GSMA statistics, our country’s global share of mobile Internet of Things connections has remained stable at over 70% since 2019. At the end of August 2022, our country’s mobile Internet of Things connections exceeded the number of mobile phone users for the first time, making it the first major economy in the world to achieve “Internet of Things over Man”. The mobile Internet of Things has entered the fast lane of comprehensive development, accelerating the digitalized transformation and green and low-carbon development of various industries.
据全球移动通信系统协会统计，2019年以来，我国移动物联网连接数的全球占比稳定在70%以上。2022年8月末，我国移动物联网连接数首次超过移动电话用户数，成为全球主要经济体中首个实现”物超人”的国家。移动物联网步入全面发展快车道，正加快赋能各行业数字化转型和绿色低碳发展。
05:37
The BeiDou Satellite Navigation System is a satellite navigation system independently built and operated by our country. It is an important national space infrastructure that provides positioning, navigation and timing services to users around the world. It took 27 years from the start of construction in 1994 to the official opening of the BeiDou-3 Global Satellite Navigation System in 2020. Since then, the large-scale application of BeiDou has entered a critical stage of marketization, industrialization and internationalization.
北斗卫星导航系统是我国自主建设、独立运行的卫星导航系统，是为全球用户提供定位、导航和授时服务的国家重要空间基础设施。从1994年启动建设，到2020年北斗三号全球卫星导航系统正式开通，历时27年。此后北斗规模应用进入市场化、产业化、国际化发展的关键阶段。
06:08
From smart agriculture, meteorological monitoring, emergency disaster reduction, urban management to car navigation, bike sharing, mobile phone food orders, and smart watches, these large-scale applications have brought the Beidou Satellite Navigation System down to earth, providing people with immense benefits in their work and daily lives. At present, there are 45 Beidou satellites in orbit, and both space and ground infrastructure have formed relatively complete service capabilities, the industrial system has basically formed, and industrial applications have begun to take shape. Data shows that the total output value of our country’s satellite navigation and location services industry has reached about 470 billion yuan. According to the planning layout, the high-precision location services brought by Beidou will integrate and innovate with technologies such as 5G and big data, fostering new drivers of growth across various sectors.
从智慧农业、气象监测、应急减灾、城市管理到汽车导航、单车共享、手机点餐、智能手表，规模应用让天上的北斗变得”接地气” 给人们的生产生活带来无尽便利。目前在轨服务的北斗卫星共计45颗，空间和地面基础设施均已形成较为完备的服务能力，产业体系基本形成，产业应用初具规模。数据显示，我国卫星导航与位置服务产业总体产值已达约4,700亿元。依照规划布局，北斗所带来的高精度位置服务，将与5G, 大数据等技术融合创新，在各领域培育发展新动能。
07:02
Second is computing power infrastructure. It is necessary to systematically optimize the layout of computing power infrastructure, promote efficient, complementary, and coordinated linkage of computing power in the east and west, and guide the reasonable tiered layout of general data centers, supercomputing centers, intelligent computing centers, and edge data centers.
二是算力基础设施方面。要系统优化算力基础设施布局，促进东西部算力高效互补和协同联动，引导通用数据中心、超算中心、智能计算中心、边缘数据中心等合理梯次布局。
07:22
The biggest move in optimizing the layout of computing facilities and the coordination and linkage between computing power in our country should be the “Eastern Data Western Computing” Project. The “Eastern Data Western Computing” Project refers to the construction of a New Type Computing Power Network System that unifies data centers, cloud computing, and big data. It guides the computing power demand in the east to the west in an orderly manner, optimizes the layout of data center construction, and promotes coordination and linkage between the east and the west.
我国算力设施布局的优化及算力间的协同联动，最大的动作应属”东数西算”工程。”东数西算”工程是指通过构建数据中心、云计算、大数据一体化的新型算力网络体系。将东部算力需求有序引导到西部，优化数据中心建设布局，促进东西部协同联动。
07:48
On May 24, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission and four other ministries and commissions jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for the Computing Power Hubs of the Collaborative and Innovative System of Nationally Unified Big Data Centers.” It clearly proposed laying out and building a nationally unified computing power network of national hub nodes and accelerating the implementation of the Eastern Data Western Computing Project. In February 2022, the construction of national computing power hub nodes was started in eight places: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu-Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, and Ningxia.
2021年5月24日，国家发展改革委等四部委联合发布 “全国一体化大数据中心协同创新体系算力枢纽实施方案”。明确提出布局建设全国一体化算力网络国家枢纽节点，加快实施”东数西算”工程。2022年2月，京津冀、长三角、粤港澳大湾区、成渝、内蒙古、贵州、甘肃、宁夏8地启动建设国家算力枢纽节点。
08:22
Also, ten national data center clusters have been planned, and the Eastern Data Western Computing Project has been officially launched. In 2022, the scale of data centers in China grew by over 25%, making the country the second largest in the world in terms of computing power. The core computing power industry reached a scale of 1.8 trillion yuan. Data centers can be divided into general data centers, supercomputing centers, and intelligent computing centers according to the type of computing power.
并规划了10个国家数据中心集群，”东数西算”工程正式全面启动。2022年，我国数据中心规模增速超过25%，算力规模达到全球第二，算力核心产业规模达到1.8万亿元。数据中心按算力类型划分，可分为通用数据中心、超算中心、智算中心。
08:51
Based on computing power capacity and location, facilities can be classified as cloud computing data centers and edge data centers. In the early days, our country’s computing power structure was mainly based on data centers that provided general computing power. And they were mainly deployed in the cloud. With the development of digital technology, different types of computing power infrastructure will be accelerated and properly laid out, such as general data centers.
按算力供给量及所处位置划分 可分为云计算数据中心及边缘数据中心。早期我国算力结构主要以提供通用算力的数据中心为主。且主要部署在云端。随着数字技术的发展，不同类型的算力基础设施将加速应用，合理布局，如通用数据中心。
09:16
Priority can be given to the western part of the country region, such as supercomputing centers considering both the existing layout and future needs, intelligent computing centers appropriately deployed in digital economy-developed regions, and edge data centers deployed nearby.
可优先在西部布局，超算中心兼顾现有布局和未来需求，智能计算中心可适当在数字经济发达地区部署, 边缘数据中心就近部署等。
09:32
Third is application infrastructure. We should emphasize improving the overall level of application infrastructure and strengthening the digitalized and intelligentized transformation of traditional infrastructure.
三是应用基础设施方面。强调整体提升应用基础设施水平，加强传统基础设施数字化、智能化改造。
09:44
Traditional infrastructure mainly includes such things as transportation, energy, and water conservancy. Digital technology can not only transform and empower traditional infrastructure but also help us transmit and sustainably apply infrastructure data in a standardized manner. According to the CAICT data, the Chengyi Expressway has doubled its traffic control efficiency and increased vehicle traffic efficiency by 10% through digitalized transformation.
传统基础设施主要包括交通、能源、水利等。数字化技术不仅能对传统基础设施进行改造和赋能，还能帮助我们对这些基建数据以标准化的方式进行传输和可持续应用。中国信息通信研究院的数据显示，成宜高速利用数字化改造，使交通管控效率提高一倍，车辆通行效率提升10%。
10:13
The traffic accident rate has been reduced by 30%. Starting from March 1, 2022, the national recommended standard ‘Automated Driving Grading for Automobiles’ (GB/T 40429-2021) officially took effect. Fueled by 5G technology, the continuously accelerating development of the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network has become the greatest driving force for the advancement of intelligent transportation.
交通事故发生率降低30%。2022年3月1日起，针对自动驾驶出台的 “汽车驾驶自动化分级” 国家推荐标准 (GB/T 40429-2021) 正式实施。5G 技术加持下不断提速的车联网建设成为交通智能化发展的最大推动力。
Footnotes
- NTI. The Party does not use the acronym “NTI,” yet. I coined the acronym for ease of writing on this website and elsewhere. ↩︎
- Triad or Digital Triad. The Party does not use the term “triad” or “digital triad.” I coined the terms for their explanatory power, and for ease of writing on this website and elsewhere. ↩︎
- computing power infrastructure, network infrastructure, application infrastructure (算力基础设施, 网络基础设施, 应用基础设施). These are tiered categories of New Type Infrastructure. New Type Infrastructure is a major industrial policy framework led by the Party that seeks to build national digital ecosystems in support of China’s economic growth, national security, social stability, and technological innovation. ↩︎
- aorta of digital infrastructure (数字基础设施大动脉). This is Xi Jinping’s personal metaphor, the information or digital “aorta,” used to help non-technical Party cadre and members grasp the urgency of digital infrastructure construction and development. ↩︎