China’s rush to build a nationwide network of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres is running the risk of creating an oversupply of computing power, experts and industry professionals said.
Data from CCID Consulting, a government-backed think tank focused on technology, shows that more than 250 internet data centres have either been built or are under construction in China as of June, as local governments, state-owned telecommunications network operators and private investors pour money into the “new infrastructure”.
Many of these artificial intelligence (AI) computing facilities are also located in areas far from the nation’s technology centres.
Total computing power in China reached a whopping 246 Eflops as of June this year, according to data published in September by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), an institute affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Eflops is a unit for measuring the speed of a computer system.
That accounted for 26 per cent of the world’s total, trailing only behind the US, according to CAICT.
