In February 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued a notice agreeing to start the construction of national computing hubs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing regions. Nodes, previously, four computing power hub nodes in Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, and Ningxia have been approved. At this point, the national integrated big data center system has completed the overall layout design of 8 national computing power hub nodes and 10 national data center clusters, and the "Eastern Data and Western Computing" project has been officially launched.
What is "counting in the east and calculating in the west"?
"Shu" refers to data, and "calculation" refers to computing power, that is, the ability to process data. "Dongshuxishu" is a new computing power network system that integrates data centers, cloud computing, and big data to integrate the computing power of the east. Demand will be directed to the west in an orderly manner, the layout of data center construction will be optimized, and coordination and linkage between the east and west will be promoted.
To put it simply, the data generated in the east is taken to the west for storage, data analysis and calculation are performed in the west, and then the results are transmitted to the east.
So why should "Eastern numbers" be "Western numbers"?
1. The storage and calculation of data require a large amount of equipment, which will occupy a lot of land. As we all know, the economic development area in the east has high land cost. Therefore, placing the storage and computing center in the west can reduce the cost of land. costs, increasing employment and development in the West.
2. The operation of equipment requires a large amount of electricity. In the economically developed eastern coastal areas, electricity is a net input, which leads to frequent power shortages in eastern coastal cities! From time to time there are power cuts!
But in the western region, there is a surplus of electricity! Why? Because the western region is rich in resources, whether it is mineral resources (such as coal) required for thermal power generation, or natural resources required for new energy power generation (such as sufficient wind, sunshine duration)! These resources are very scarce in the east. Therefore, it is definitely a good way to place these high-power-consuming industries in areas with high power generation!
3. From the perspective of national industrial layout, the coordinated development of the eastern and western regions can be better realized, and national coordination can be achieved to achieve scale and intensification.
The implementation of the "Eastern Data and Western Counting" project is of great significance in promoting the rational layout of data centers, optimizing supply and demand, green intensification and interconnection, etc.:
1. It is conducive to improving the country’s overall computing power level. Through the nationwide integrated data center layout and construction, the scale of computing power facilities will be expanded, the efficiency of computing power usage will be improved, and the large-scale and intensive development of national computing power will be achieved.
2. Conducive to promoting green development. Increasing the layout of data centers in the west will significantly increase the proportion of green energy use and consume the green energy in the west. At the same time, we will continue to optimize the energy efficiency of data centers through technological innovation, replacing large ones with small ones, and low-carbon development.
3. Conducive to expanding effective investment. The data center industry chain is long, the investment scale is large, and the driving effect is strong. Through the construction of computing power hubs and data center clusters, it will effectively drive upstream and downstream investment in the industry.
4. Conducive to promoting coordinated regional development. Through the layout of computing power facilities from east to west, it will drive the effective transfer of related industries, promote data circulation and value transfer between the east and west, extend the development space of the east, and promote the development of the west to form a new pattern.
The strategy of counting from the east to the west is no less important than the south-to-north water diversion, west-to-east electricity transmission, and west-to-east gas transmission. So, in such a project of great significance, which links will benefit?
Riding on the east wind, which aspects of "counting in the east and calculating in the west" will benefit?
In the computer field, key areas that benefit from the "Eastern Digital and Western Calculation" project include servers, information security, digital transformation, intelligent computing centers, and energy informatization.
First of all , servers, IT equipment procurement and other sectors are direct beneficiaries.
Combined with the initial strategy of “digital data in the east and computing in the west” (in the initial stage, 10 data center clusters are planned to be established in 8 computing power hubs, and the average availability rate of data centers in the clusters is required to be at least 65%). The server industry, the upstream core equipment of data centers, will show advantages in the short term.
The foundation of the digital economy, the core theme direction in 2022, policy + industry resonance, servers are the cornerstone of science and technology. In software innovation, hardware comes first, and servers are the first direction in which the digital economy releases performance.
Server prices will remain high in 2021, mainly due to server shortages.
Server demand is likely to pick up in 2022. Evidence includes: DDR5 memory interface chip mass production, Intel 10nm chip mass production approaching, and Internet demand cyclically picking up.
Secondly, the “Eastern Data and Western Computation” project will encourage telecom operators to increase network investment in computing power hubs and promote greater use of new energy in data centers. The mid-term cloud computing industry chain, including information security, operators, cloud vendors and other sectors, may also usher in a "golden development period".
The focus of the work of "Eastern Data and Western Computing" is to build green, low-carbon, rationally laid out data center clusters, while also improving network transmission quality and ensuring green and low-carbon operation of data centers. It is expected to be used in communication network construction, green energy security, etc. Continue to increase investment.
Eastern digital and Western computing have put forward higher requirements for data security circulation and become a catalyst for the industry.
Finally, as a supply-side reform of the IDC industry, “digitizing in the east and counting in the west” will have a profound impact on the future IDC market structure. When the "calculation" and "number" foundation of the upstream and midstream are established, it will be fed back to the downstream applications. Autonomous driving, ultra-high definition, VR and other industry markets are likely to be deeply involved.
Our country's economy has shifted from high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality growth. We are promoting the deep integration of new-generation digital technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence with the real economy, and vigorously promoting the construction of a digital China and a smart society. Digital transformation of enterprises is imperative. The launch of the “digitize the east and count the west” strategy will accelerate the process of industrial digitalization.
Three stages of counting from east to west
The first stage : The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and others have clarified the scope of "new infrastructure". As one of the "new infrastructure", data centers have been given an important position in supporting industrial upgrading and the digital transformation of the whole society.
In March 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Organizing and Implementing New Infrastructure Construction Projects in 2020 (Broadband Network and 5G Field)", clearly proposing to accelerate the construction progress of new infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers.
In April of the same year, the country elaborated on the specific meaning of new infrastructure for the first time, proposing the construction of computing infrastructure represented by data centers and intelligent computing centers to attract local governments to actively deploy the computing industry. This is also the term "computing infrastructure". This is the first time a concept has been proposed at the national level.
The second stage : The National Development and Reform Commission and other four ministries and commissions proposed for the first time the "Eastern Number and West Counting" structure of "national hub node + provincial node + edge node".
Focusing on the national major regional development strategy, we will build a "4+4" national integrated computing power network national hub node, namely in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu and Chongqing, as well as Guizhou, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Ningxia The national hub node of the national computing power network also marks that the "computing power network" has been officially included in the national new infrastructure development and construction system.
The third stage : the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology releases the "Action Plan" and officially launches the "Eastern Counting and Western Counting" project.
In July 2021, in order to implement the national strategic deployment, coordinate and guide the construction of new data centers, create a new pattern of high-quality development of data centers, and build an intelligent computing ecosystem with new data centers as the core, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Development of New Data Centers" Three-Year Action Plan (2021-2023)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Action Plan”) marks the official launch of the “Count in the East and Count in the West” project.
Data center layout with data from east to west
The premise of “numbering in the east and counting in the west” is to do a good job in data center layout, and the focus of data center layout is “categorization guidance”.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out in the "Action Plan" that based on factors such as energy structure, industrial layout, market development, climate environment, etc., the national hub nodes, provincial data centers, edge data centers, old data centers and overseas data centers will be classified and guided. Form a hierarchical layout of the data center.
The first is to accelerate the construction of "4+4" national hub nodes. Promote the construction progress of eight national hub nodes including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei to meet the needs of different types of computing power across the country.
The second is to build new data centers in each province as needed. Focus on integrating and making full use of existing data center resources to accelerate the improvement of the utilization rate of existing data centers. In response to the business needs of the region, combined with actual conditions such as energy supply and network conditions, new data centers will be built appropriately as needed to create computing power services with local characteristics, local services, and appropriate scale.
The third is to flexibly deploy edge data centers. Actively build an edge computing power supply system in the city to support the calculation, storage and forwarding of edge data to meet the needs of new business applications with extremely low latency and extremely high performance.
Guide the collaborative deployment of urban edge data centers with urban infrastructure such as substations, base stations, and communication rooms to ensure the space, power and other resources they require.
The fourth is to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of "old and small" data centers. Promote the transformation and upgrading of existing "old and small" data centers in batches by classification. "Old" data centers will accelerate the application of high-density, high-efficiency IT equipment and infrastructure systems, and "small and scattered" data centers will accelerate migration and integration to improve the energy utilization efficiency and computing power supply capabilities of "old and small and scattered" data centers. Better meet local edge computing application needs.
The fifth is to gradually deploy new overseas data centers. Support the upstream and downstream enterprises in my country's data center industry chain to "go out", focus on deploying new overseas data centers in countries along the "Belt and Road", strengthen effective coordination with my country's international communication infrastructure such as land and sea cables, and gradually improve global service capabilities.
The proposal of the "Digital in the East and Calculate in the West" project is highly strategic, leading and innovative, and will surely have a significant impact on accelerating the construction of digital infrastructure, implementing carbon peak and carbon neutral requirements, and coordinating the coordinated development of the east and west. far-reaching significance.
