China’s spending spree on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is rapidly accelerating, with China Unicom, one of the country’s “big three” state-owned telecommunications network operators, budgeting a 28 per cent increase in capital expenditures for computing power in 2025.
The aggressive spending approach comes as China’s Big Tech companies have also unveiled ambitious AI investment plans. Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post, recently said it had earmarked at least US$52 billion for building AI and cloud computing infrastructure over the next three years, marking the largest computing power project by a private Chinese company.
As state-owned infrastructure operators, private enterprises and local governments unite in increasing AI infrastructure investments, China’s total AI spending could rival or even surpass the headline-grabbing Stargate Project – a joint venture between US start-up OpenAI and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank that includes a pledged investment of US$500 billion over the next four years.
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China Unicom on Tuesday reported a 17 per cent decline in overall capital expenditures in 2024. However, spending on computing power, including data centres, rose 19 per cent, underscoring the company’s commitment to AI.
Amid a surge in AI adoption following the launch of open-sourced models from Chinese start-up DeepSeek, China Unicom is budgeting a 28 per cent increase in capital expenses for computing power this year. To ensure steady funding for critical projects, the company has also allocated a “special budget” for key AI infrastructure initiatives.
Its total capital expenditure budget for this year is set at 55 billion yuan (US$7.6 billion).
China Unicom chairman Chen Zhongyue said the company must embrace the AI wave to transform from a telecoms network operator into a technology services provider.
The company’s ambitious spending plan is part of a broader national effort to enhance AI infrastructure. The country is developing more data centres to meet the soaring demand for AI applications, despite its lack of access to advanced chips from Nvidia owing to US export restrictions.
China Unicom had established “large-scale intelligent computing centres” across the country, including in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, and built over 300 computing resource pools for training and inference, the company said.
Beijing-based China Unicom, whose main businesses include mobile and broadband networks and cloud and data centres, saw its profit grow 10.1 per cent year on year in 2024. Cloud revenue rose by 17.1 per cent, driven by strong growth in its intelligent computing sector. The value of newly signed contracts exceeded 26 billion yuan last year, according to the company.
Source:https://www.thestar.com.my/
