China’s data industry continued to expand rapidly in 2025, supporting the development of the fast-growing artificial intelligence (AI) sector, according to official data.
The scale of China’s data industry reached 6.78 trillion yuan (about $1trn) in 2025, up 15.7 per cent year on year, showed figures released at the opening of the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Data-related software products, including AI application software, and data resource products, including token services, had a combined output value of 4.99trn yuan, accounting for 73.6pc of the industry’s total.
As of this month, more than 126,000 high-quality datasets had been built nationwide, with a total volume exceeding 1,815 petabytes, an increase of more than 89pc from March.
“AI development is heavily driven by data,” said Liu Liehong, head of China’s National Data Bureau. “Wherever AI advances, we push forward the construction and application of high-quality datasets.”
By late July 2026, Guizhou housed 50 key data centers, with total computing capacity reaching 176.57 EFLOPS. Nearly 98.4pc of this capacity was dedicated specifically to AI-related computing.
&uuid=(email))