Expert: China's new data group highlights AI infrastructure needs

China's establishment of a new state-owned data group highlights the importance of data infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI) development, according to Zhang Xianghong, a member of a national advisory committee on data.

The National Data Group was established in Xiongan New Area, Hebei Province, on October 20. The central state-owned enterprise aims to develop and utilize data resources, unlock their value and support AI development. Its stated responsibilities include developing and utilizing data resources and advancing data infrastructure connectivity to support China's digital development.

Zhang said the group would help integrate national-level data resources, promote data sharing across industries and regions, and break down data silos, and these efforts could improve resource allocation and help build a unified national data market.

Beyond data access, reliable AI services also depend on sufficient computing capacity, dependable infrastructure and effective system maintenance. These factors can help keep services running and reduce disruptions.

The importance of service reliability was underscored by a partial outage affecting DeepSeek's web chat and API services on October 15. The company's status page did not specify the cause, so the incident cannot be directly attributed to insufficient computing capacity.