(A Closer Look at China) Inspecting Ulanqab, Xi Jinping pays attention to the considerations behind computing power

China News Service, Beijing, October 17th. Title: During the inspection of Ulanqab, Xi Jinping paid attention to the considerations behind computing power.

China News Service reporter Guo Chaokai

On October 16, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Ulanqab City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for inspection and research. Computing power became an important keyword for his trip.

On October 16, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This was Xi Jinping's cordial exchange with the relevant computing power center project leaders, technicians, and staff of the Chahar High-tech Zone during his inspection at the Chahar High-tech Development Zone. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yan Yan

Xi Jinping went to the Chahar High-tech Development Zone and learned about the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's progress in promoting the construction of hub nodes of the "Eastern Digital and Western Calculation" project and the development of the green computing industry in the exhibition hall.

Ulanqab is rich in scenic and solar resources. In recent years, it has taken advantage of its comparative advantages in green power, climate, location, etc., and the development of the green computing power industry has achieved positive results: 109 computing power center projects have been signed, and as of August 2026, the computing power scale has reached 190,000P. A report from Goldman Sachs pointed out that Ulanqab is becoming one of the largest and fastest-growing artificial intelligence (AI) computing power clusters in the Asia-Pacific, and a number of leading companies have established their presence here.

Today, Ulanqab is becoming the forefront of competition in the global computing power industry. Xi Jinping came here for this inspection with the intention of planning for the long term.

Computing power is the basic resource in the digital economy era. Some analysts believe that under the trend of deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, new infrastructure such as computing power networks has become one of the key variables that determine future competitiveness.

In April this year, a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee pointed out that the planning and construction of water networks, new power grids, computing power networks, new generation communication networks, urban underground pipe networks, and logistics networks should be strengthened. The computing power network has attracted much attention as one of the "six networks".

This time in Ulanqab, Xi Jinping made further arrangements for the construction of the computing power network. He emphasized that implementing the "Eastern Digital and Western Calculation" project and building a national integrated computing power network is an important deployment of the Party Central Committee, requiring "to ensure the efficient operation of completed projects and the completion of follow-up project construction as scheduled."

During this inspection, there were also major considerations behind Xi Jinping’s new requirements for the development of the green computing industry.

On October 16, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This is when Xi Jinping inspected the Chahar High-tech Development Zone to learn about the development of the green computing industry. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yue Yuewei

Xi Jinping once emphasized that “during the ‘15th Five-Year Plan’ period, the development of new productive forces in accordance with local conditions must be placed in a more prominent strategic position.” Computing power is the core foundation for the development of the digital economy and new productivity. Whether it is large model training, intelligent applications, or the digital transformation of traditional industries, they are all inseparable from the support of computing power.

At present, the computing power industry is in an accelerated development stage with broad prospects. Seizing the opportunity to promote the development of the computing industry will provide a more solid foundation for cultivating new productive forces and promoting high-quality economic development in the future. The transformation of Ulanqab, a resource-based city into a computing center, is a useful exploration of “promoting high-quality development based on local conditions.”

Previously, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on the Development of New Productivity", which clearly proposed "building a national integrated computing power network" and "strengthening the efficient supply of computing power, algorithms, data, etc."

Xi Jinping further pointed out this time that it is necessary to actively extend the industrial chain, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and continuously transform computing power advantages into development advantages. He also proposed that he hopes that everyone will conscientiously implement the requirements of efficiency, greenness, and safety, focus on "computing power collaboration" and "computing water collaboration", do a good job in the construction and operation of computing power center projects, and actively promote the development of the green computing power industry.

Some analysts believe that this means that the development of the computing power industry must not only focus on computing power itself, but also drive the agglomeration of upstream and downstream industries, focus on empowering new productive forces, and deeply integrate into various fields of economic development.

Xi Jinping's move to focus on computing power during his inspection in Inner Mongolia sent a clear signal to the outside world: China is stepping up its actions to continuously turn its computing power advantages into development advantages and seize the opportunity in the global technological revolution and industrial transformation. (over)