Beijing rolled out a new state-owned enterprise called China National Data Group Co., set up to develop and use data resources. The inauguration took place Tuesday in the Xiongan new area of Hebei province, led by Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, according to Xinhua.
Ding said the group is meant to help China seize AI openings and cultivate fresh competitive edges. He also pressed companies to work together on the data industry and urged government agencies and local authorities to ensure needed resources are in place.
State broadcaster CCTV reported the company's mandate covers building, stitching together, and operating data assets at a national scale. Zhang Xianghong, a member of China's national data expert advisory committee, said the goal is to boost sharing across sectors and regions, clear "data silos," and speed the creation of a unified national data market.
China has put AI at the center of its self-reliance drive as Western export controls tighten on advanced hardware. People familiar told Bloomberg in June that Beijing is preparing to allocate about 2 trillion yuan, roughly 300 billion dollars, across the coming five years to build data centers nationwide to lift its domestic AI industry.
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Xiongan sits about 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, southwest of Beijing and is a flagship project championed by President Xi Jinping to take on non-capital functions moved out of the city. He has called for state firms to move there, alongside research institutes, universities, and financial institutions, casting the zone as a budding tech hub and a proving ground for new technology and financial policies.
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